Indian government has moved closer to imposing anti-dumping duty (ADD) on import of jute sacking cloth from Bangladesh, as it has claimed to have evidence in their probe that the product is being dumped avoiding the duty on jute sacking bags.Bangladesh commerce ministry officials and exporters feared that most of the local jute mills and traders would be hit hard if India imposed anti-dumping duty on export of jute sacking cloth, reports RMG news portal on Monday. Directorate general of Trade Remedies of the Indian commerce ministry on March 7, issued a disclosure statement of an investigation saying that export of the jute sacking cloth from Bangladesh eroded the effect of the ADD earlier imposed on jute bags. Local exporters were supposed to provide their comments on the disclosure to DGTR by March 14 but India is moving ahead when Bangladesh is yet to make its case against Indian move. Bangladesh High Commission in India, however, has requested the DGTR for extending the deadline till March 31 for providing comments as more than 20 Bangladeshi companies are involved in this investigation,’ a senior commerce ministry official said. Bangladesh High Commission official in Delhi made the request arguing that sufficient time was required for preparing the submission on the investigation. India on January 5, 2017 imposed anti-dumping duty ranging from $19 to $351.72 over a tone of imported jute products from Bangladesh including jute yarn, twine, hessian fabric and jute sacking bags for five years. Of the products, jute sacking bag is facing the anti-dumping duty ranging from $126 to $138 a tone. Jute sacking clothe fall outside the purview of the duty. DGTR on March 20, last year initiated the anti-circumvention investigation of jute sacking cloth, the penultimate form in the production of jute sacking bags. Indian Jute Mills Association sought the anti-dumping duty on jute sacking cloth alleging that Bangladesh has been exporting jute sacking cloth to avoid or circumvent the anti-dumping duty imposed on jute sacking bags. Bangladeshi exporters declined the allegation saying that they did not change the pattern of trade to circumvent anti-dumping duty.
