The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has issued its final findings for the anti-dumping duty investigation concerning the import of textured tempered coated and uncoated glass from Malaysia. The DGTR has recommended levy of anti-dumping duty of $114.58/metric ton for a period of five years.

According to the directorate, “The domestic industry has suffered material injury during the injury period and period of investigation. This injury has been due to various factors including imports of tempered solar glass from Malaysia.”

“The domestic industry has suffered material injury on account of price suppression and undercutting by imports from Malaysia. The financial parameters on profitability and return on investment (RoI) are also noted to be adverse,” stated a DGTR release.

After reviewing the submissions made by the parties and stakeholders, the DGTR noted that tempered solar glass has been exported to India largely by one producer, namely Xinyi Solar, whose exports are evaluated as non-dumped. The exports from non-cooperating producers other than Xinyi Solar, have been evaluated as dumped, and causing injury as well.

The DGTR did not find Xinyi Solar to be dumping as per the anti-dumping rules, therefore their exports to India are not liable for an anti-dumping measure. The non-cooperating producers for whom dumping margin and injury margin have been evaluated will be charged with the levy of anti-dumping duty.

A DGTR official told Mercom, “The levy of duty will begin soon. While arriving at the duty, we kept in mind that we must not charge undue duty. In Malaysia, there were only two major exporters out of which one did not provide requisite data, so we have exempted one Malaysian firm from the levy of this duty.”

The official further said, “A few stakeholders said that this will lead to monopolization in the domestic industry, but the DGTR believes this duty will help other players come up if they wish to as the market demand will increase. Earlier, due to dumping, domestic industry could not even realize its optimum potential.”

The Case

Malaysia landed on DGTR’s radar after Indian solar glass producer Gujarat Borosil filed a petition requesting the imposition of an anti-dumping duty. Gujarat Borosil stated that the dumping of cheap products from Malaysia was causing material injury to its business, claiming to be the only solar glass producer in India.

In response to the petition, the DGAD initiated an investigation into Malaysian solar glass imports to components with a minimum transmission of 90.5 percent, a thickness that does not exceed 4.2 mm (including a tolerance of 0.2 mm), and at least one dimension that exceeds 1,500 mm, whether coated or uncoated.

In its response to the petition, the DGAD agreed that there was enough evidence to support Gujarat Borosil’s claim that solar glass was being dumped in the Indian market from Malaysia, potentially causing material injury to the Indian company.

The DGAD also agreed that there was evidence of a causal link between the alleged dumping and injury to the petitioner, which led them to initiate the anti-dumping investigation.

The period of investigation covers a 15-month period stretching from October 1, 2016 to December 31, 2017, and the injury investigation covers the data for the previous three years.

In 2017, the Indian Ministry of Finance imposed an anti-dumping duty on tempered glass (solar glass) imported from China in the range of $64.04 per metric ton to $136.21/MT.

“Prior to this, we had levied anti-dumping duty on solar tempered glass imports from China in 2017. We want to send across the message that the Indian market is open, but only for fair play and fair competition, you cannot sit on subsidies provided by your respective government and try and destabilize the market here in India by lowering your prices,” added the DGTR official.

Image credit: Borosil