ISLAMABAD, July 18: National Tariff Commission (NTC) has imposed provisional anti-dumping duty at the rate of 96.50pc ad val of C&F on Roquette Freres of France and 91.12pc ad val of C&F price on P.T. Sorini Corporation of Indonesia for allegedly dumping Sorbitol 70pc Solution, a sweetener of pharmaceuticals, etc.

While disclosing this here Friday, NTC Chairman, Dr Faizullah Khilji said the action against the firms had been taken on a complaint filed by Habib Arkady Limited, local producers of Sorbitol 70% solution, under the Pakistan Anti-dumping Duties Ordinance 2000.

On average, the usage of Sorbitol in medical products constitutes approximately 10-15pc of the total cost of raw materials.

This is the second case taken up by the Commission under the Ordinance since its promulgation. In the earlier case, it had imposed anti-dumping duty on a South African exporter of tinplate used in vegetable ghee containers.

The proceedings against the producers/exporters of Sorbitol of Indonesia and France had been initiated by the NTC in March this year.

The NTC has now made the preliminary determination that Sorbitol, classified under Pakistan Customs Tariff Codes 2905.4400 and 3824.6000, was indeed being exported to Pakistan at dumped prices, that is, prices lower than the normal value of the product and the price prevailing in France and Indonesia. Such dumping had caused injury to the domestic industry, the NTC observed.

Before arriving at preliminary determination, Dr Khilji stated, the commission had sent questionnaires to the French and Indonesian producers/exporters and importers of the investigated product, asking them to provide information within the statutory time period of 37 days.

The information provided by the relevant French and Indonesian companies was, however, found to be incomplete. In such cases, the Commission is empowered to make a determination on the basis of the data available to it.

The officers of the NTC carried out on-the-spot investigation at the premises of the domestic industry in April 2003 to verify the information provided by the complainant company.

Interestingly, the Indonesian anti-dumping authorities had already imposed an anti-dumping duty of 153pc on the import of Sorbitol from EU in March 2001.

An analysis of imports of Sorbitol shows that France and Indonesia accounted for bulk of total imports from all countries. Thus against 3,294 tons of total imports, the aggregate quantity of imports from France and Indonesia stood at 3026 tons in 1999- 00.

In 2000-01, the country imported 3074 tons, of which 2670 tons originated in these two countries. The figures of the remaining period up to December 2002 also leave no doubt that they practically crowded out Sorbitol exporters from the rest of the world.

The provisional rate of anti-dumping duty determined by the NTC is equal to the amount of dumping margin established. The anti-dumping duty will be valid for 4 months.

However, the NTC Chairman made it clear that the producers/exporters of Sorbitol 70pc solution from France and Indonesia other than those specified above would not be subject to these provisional duties. These also do not apply to producers/ exporters of this substance from countries other than France and Indonesia.

Under the Ordinance, he said in reply to a question, the Commission has to make the final determination no later than 6 months from the date of publication of notice of preliminary determination. If the final determination is affirmative, the commission may impose final anti-dumping duty on the dumped imports equivalent to the dumping margin for a period of up to five years.

This finding is, however, subject to review by the commission at any time after two years.

Alternatively, any affected exporting government can approach the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) in Geneva and lodge a complaint against the importing country’s decisions. The DSB may then set up a panel to adjudicate.

No such appeal was filed against the NTC’s decision in the first case of dumping handled by it, Dr Khilji said.