India Launched Anti-Dumping Investigation on Imported NBR Again

SCI99

2020-05-29

India Launched Anti-Dumping Investigation on Imported NBR Again

According to relevant media reports, on May 26, 2020, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India (hereinafter also referred to as the “Authority”) issued a notice saying that in response to the application submitted by the Indian company Apcotex Industries Limited, the Authority started an anti-dumping investigation on the acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) from China, the European Union, Japan and Russia. The period of investigation (POI) adopted by the Authority for the present investigation is from July 1, 2019 to 3 December 31, 2019 (6 months), and the injury investigation period covers April 2016-March 2017, April 2017-March 2018, April 2018-March 2019 and the POI.

This is not the first time India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation on imported NBR. Since 1996, India has imposed anti-dumping duties on NBR imported from Germany, South Korea, Taiwan Province of China, EU, Brazil, Mexico and other countries and regions. But this did not prevent foreign NBR from continuing to occupy the Indian market. Mainly because India’s own production capacity for NBR is very limited, and India is in short supply of domestic NBR, while India’s domestic market demand is constantly increasing. In the absence of new supply capacity of NBR in India, India can only choose imported goods.

India accounts for a small proportion of the global NBR supply

Chart 1 2019 Global NBR Capacity Statistics by Region

In 2019, Asia’s NBR capacity was still the largest, accounting for about 50% of the global total capacity. The other two main production areas of NBR were North America (the U.S. and Canada, accounting for about 10% of the total capacity) and Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Russia, accounting for about 25% of the total capacity). The most important NBR producers in the world were still ARLANXEO, Zeon, PetroChina Lanzhou Petrochemical, Zhenjiang Nantex Chemical, Kumho, LG, Ningbo Shunze Rubber, and Sibur, Russia. The global NBR industry had a high concentration of capacity. According to SCI, the total capacity of the top ten enterprises account for more than 85% of the global total capacity.

According to SCI’s statistics, in 2019, India’s domestic NBR capacity accounted for less than 3% of the world’s total. The NBR capacity of China, the European Union, Japan and Russia involved in this anti-dumping investigation accounted for 32%, 22%, 13% and 5% respectively of the world’s capacity. In addition, the anti-dumping sanction against South Korea was extended in 2015 (South Korea’s NBR capacity accounts for 17% of the world’s total), so India will launch anti-dumping investigation on 89% of the global NBR in the future.

India’s NBR imports growth slowed down