India imposes anti-dumping duty on Iran, Qatar and China for chemical dumping

The Dollar Business Bureau

India has imposed anti-dumping duty ranging between $23.78 to $300.22 on the imports of  Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) from China, Qatar and Iran. LAB is majorly used in the preparation of various detergents. A notice to the effect was issued by the DGAD  via Customs notification no.12/2017-CUSTOMS dated April 11, 2017, to protect the domestic players from the cheap dumping of the shipments.

Two Indian companies, Nirma Ltd and Tamilnadu Petroproducts had jointly filed an application on 7th December, 2015 to the DGAD to investigate the cheap dumping of the chemical by various companies of Qatar, China and Iran. There are two other major Indian players in the market, the Reliance group and the Indian Oil Corporation. India imported nearly $198 million of 174 MT worth of LAD in FY 2016-17 from 12 countries including the ones mentioned above.

Usage of LAB has been increasing globally as the chemical is used to manufacture varied numbers of detergent powders  and liquid detergents in the domestic sector while industrially it is used in the construction industry as glass cleaners, metal cleaners, industrial cleaners and various home cleaners. Kerosene a by-product of crude oil is majorly used in the production of LAB. Thus the volatile price of crude in the international market acts a major deterrent for a sustainable price level as the price fluctuation results in costs fluctuating frequently.

However with a rise in increased spending in end-use household products in emerging economies like India and China, the market is likely to grow in the next six years.