ISLAMABAD, Feb 21: The government is likely to impose around 20 per cent anti-dumping duty on imports of glacial acetic acid (GAA) from Chinese Taipei - Taiwan.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Friday that this was the third anti-dumping case in Pakistan that had been successful since the promulgation of Anti-dumping Duties Ordinance 2000.

The case was initiated by the National Tariff Commission in September 2003 on the application lodged by Wah Nobel Acetates Limited (WNAL) on July 4, 2003, alleging dumping of GAA into Pakistan by a producer and exporter from Taiwan, Chang Chun Petrochemical Company Limited.

WNAL represented 100 per cent of the domestic production of the said product.

When contacted consultant of WNAL and an expert on anti-dumping duty, Saifullah Khan told Dawn that the alleged dumped imports of the investigated product from Taiwan was causing material injury to the domestic industry, by way of various injury factors, including price undercutting, price depression, loss in market share and capacity utilization, inventory buildup of GAA, negative cash flow on its operation, etc.

He said GAA was one of the products produced by WNAL and was classified under Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) Code 2915.2100. Major uses of GAA are in the manufacture of cellulose acetate fibre, pure terephthalic acid (PTA), ester solvents, dyes and metal salts, textile processing, pharmaceuticals, etc. However, GAA accounts for minor share in cost of production of these industries.

In order to obtain data/information deemed necessary for the investigation, the NTC, in terms of rule 8 of the Anti-dumping Rules 2001, has sent questionnaires to all known exporters, foreign producers and importers of GAA.

Further, senior officials of the NTC visited the premises of Chang Chun Petrochemicals Company Ltd to verify the records, documents, especially costing information that were being submitted by them for the purpose of investigation.

Mr Khan said that determination of dumping was always made on the basis of information submitted by the producers/ exporters of the alleged product. Whereas, the determination of injury is based upon the information supplied by the applicant in the importing country e.g WNAL in this case. Therefore, the anti-dumping duty against dumped imports from Taiwan has become possible after a detailed investigation being done by the NTC. Period of investigation for this case was from July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003 as far as the determination of dumping is concerned and from July 1, 2000 to June 30, 2003 as far as the determination of injury is concerned, he added.