India, China face probes
The Commerce Ministry is investigating whether China and India have been dumping high-carbon steel wire rods, glass blocks and zinc-oxide products on the local market.
The goods have been filtering into Thailand since the implementation of free-trade agreements with the two countries that granted them low tariff privileges. The investigation will take one month. Rachane Potjanasuntorn, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said yesterday the department had found evidence that the Chinese and Indian products were sold in Thailand at lower prices than in the motherland. As a result, the products imported from the two countries could be slapped with anti-dumping duties to ensure that local manufacturers can compete. The charge is that India dumped high-carbon steel wire rods while China dumped the same product in addition to glass blocks and zinc oxides. Meanwhile, Nippon Steel and Sumikin Stainless Steel Corporation (NSSC), large steel-manufacturers in Japan, have called for the Thai government to reduce anti-dumping duties on their products, on the grounds that they too had stopped exporting to Thailand since the merger of the two companies in October, 2004. Rachane said the government would consider revising the anti-dumping rates in the next month but domestic steel manufacturers oppose the plan. Petchanet Pratruangkrai The Nation
|
