UPDATE: India recommends final AD duty on aluminum foil imports from China

At the request of domestic Indian aluminum foil producers first lodged before December 2015, India had initiated an AD probe into China-origin aluminum foil imports, the Ministry of Commerce said. The latest investigation results show that the aluminum foil up to 80 microns has been exported to India from China at a price lower than its normal value, leading to dumping, it said.

The Chinese aluminum foil products targeted by the recommended AD duty include the 5-micron aluminum foil with a width of less than 500 mm and a 99.35% purity and the aluminum foil with a thickness ranging from 5.5 to 80 microns both for capacitor uses.

Certain aluminum foil products are exempt from the AD duty, such as aluminum foil with a thickness of less than 5.5 microns for non-capacitor uses, foils with a thickness of less than 5 microns as well as those ranging from over 5 microns up to 5.5 microns for capacitors, and some other forms of aluminum foils, Mysteel reported.

On March 17 just three days before this recommendation was made, the finance ministry's Department of Revenue announced its decision to impose a provisional AD duty on aluminum foil imports from China for six months, as reported. The provisional duty rates range from $619 to $873 per tonne.

The deadline for when the finance ministry must decide whether to accept or reject the commerce ministry's final AD recommendation is not clear, nor whether (should finance uphold the recommendation) these latest recommended duties would replace the provisional penalties or whether the final duties would apply after the six months have elapsed.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com