India has initiated an anti-subsidy investigation for imposition of countervailing duty (CVD) on imports of jute products, including jute sacking bags, jute sacking cloth and jute yarn, from Bangladesh. Director General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) of India has already invited Bangladesh for consultation, a condition prior to starting such an investigation. A country can impose countervailing duty on import of subsidised products from any other country to offset injury caused to local products due to the import of subsidised imports. The consultation is supposed to be held through video conferencing by May 15. Bangladesh commerce ministry has already requested India to defer the consultation until June 15 considering the prevailing situation of COVID-19 pandemic. Trade officials and industry insiders said that the move would come as a huge threat to export of jute products to India, which is a large market for jute products, where Bangladesh’s export of the products has been dwindling since 2017 following imposition of anti-dumping duty by the country. India in April, 2017 imposed anti-dumping duty ranging from $19 to $351.72 a tonne on import of jute products including jute yarn, twine, hessian fabric and jute sacking bags from Bangladesh for five years. Bangladesh annually exports jute and jute products worth around $200 million to India. Trade officials and industry insiders said that India had been creating barriers one after another to import of the products to hamper Bangladesh’s export. Export of the products will be severely impacted if, in addition to the ADD, a CVD is imposed, they said. Commerce ministry’s World Trade Organisation cell director general Sharifa Khan on Thursday told New Age that they had already sought time extension for consultation on the ground of coronavirus pandemic. Holding consultation is a primary stage and a WTO-set condition of initiating any countervailing investigation, she said. At the consultation, India may raise the issue while Bangladesh will provide its arguments, she added. The Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission will carry out research activities and provide necessary supports to the commerce ministry in handling the issues. Bangladesh Jute Mills Association secretary-general Abdul Barik Khan told New Age that India had been taking various measures to hamper Bangladesh’s export of jute products to the country. ‘Bangladesh should impose duty on export of raw jute and make containerised export of the item through sea route mandatory to make India’s export of raw jute costlier as part of tackling the measures,’ he said.
