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Bangladesh considering anti-dumping duty on Indian yarn
PTI - New Delhi

Bangladesh has said that it is considering imposition of anti-dumping duty on Indian yarn following complaints filed by the domestic industry alleging dumping by India.

“We are examining the alleged dumping of Indian yarn into Bangladesh. The domestic industry has formally complained about the large scale imports from India,” the Bangladesh commerce secretary Mr Suhel Ahmed Choudhury said here.

Speaking on the sidelines of the first annual meeting of the South Asia Business Forum here, he said, a final decision on the issue would be taken after the report into the investigation was submitted to the government. Mr Choudhury said the government was also under tremendous pressure from the domestic industry to approach the dispute settlement body under the WTO against anti-dumping duty imposed by India on its batteries.

“We are however in favour of sorting out the issue through bilateral consultation,” he said.

Asked about the ban imposed by Bangladesh on Indian cotton yarn imports through the land route, he said, “The ban had been imposed by the customs authorities on account of large scale avoidance of duty by the Indian companies”. “The Bangladesh government was losing a lot of revenue on account of the avoidance of duty payment,” he said adding that the bilateral trade agreement with India had not benefitted Bangladesh and India’s trade surplus had increased from a mere US$ 170 million dollars in 1991-92 to US$ 1.10 billion in 2000-01.

Addressing the forum, Mr Choudhury said though India was providing enhanced market access facility to smaller economies on a non-reciprocal basis in the WTO spirit of special and differential treatment for LDCs, Bangladesh had not yet received adequate special preferential treatment from India. “We would expect India to grant duty-free access on a non-reciprocal basis on all goods produced in Bangladesh,” he said adding the recent announcement made by West Bengal government on lifting the luxury tax imposed on Bangladesh products was a positive step in this direction. Later talking to reporters, Mr Choudhury said New Delhi had not responded to its suggestion to hold secretary level talks in July to review the trade agreement, following which the treaty was granted its fourth extension until October 3, 2002.