India launches anti-dumping probe into hot-rolled flat steel imports from China, Japan and Russia

Mumbai: India has initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled flat steel products from China, Japan and Russia after top domestic steelmakers alleged that cheap imports from these countries have caused material injury to the local industry and threaten to inflict further damage.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), under the commerce ministry, on Thursday issued an initiation notification following an application filed by JSW Steel Ltd, JSW Vijayanagar Metallics Ltd and Jindal Steel Odisha Ltd. The application has also received support from Tata Steel Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL).

The domestic industry has sought “retrospective imposition of anti-dumping duties”, arguing that there is a history of dumping in the product category and that delaying duties could lead to a further surge in low-priced imports, causing irreparable harm to Indian manufacturers, the notification said.

“The applicants have claimed that the volume of imports increased in both absolute terms and in relation to demand in India over the injury period,” the notification said. “The subject goods were undercutting prices of the domestic industry and the subject imports supressed and depressed the prices of domestic industry. Despite increased sales, the average inventories of the domestic industry increased. It has been claimed that applicants have suffered losses and declining return on investments due to dumped imports.”

This comes after New Delhi imposed a three-year safeguard duty of 12% on imports of hot-rolled flat products of non-alloy and other alloy steel as the government aimed to curb cheap shipments, especially from China, Mint reported earlier.

“India’s investigation into HRC imports from China, Japan, and Russia comes amid rising concerns over possible dumping, with HRC imports increasing by 15-20% in 2025 (which is the investigation period),” said Dhruv Goel, CEO of Big Mint, a commodities market intelligence firm.

“Indian mills’ argument is that India has one of the lowest import duty structures globally, while countries such as the US, EU, and UK have duties as high as 50%. Even if anti-dumping duties are imposed, they will likely apply only to specific companies and not all imports. These three countries account for over 50% of India’s HRC imports,” Goel added.

The authority noted that, based on the evidence submitted, there is sufficient prima facie evidence of dumping, injury to the domestic industry and a causal link between the two to justify launching a formal investigation. It will now determine the extent of dumping and recommend whether anti-dumping duties should be imposed.

The period of investigation will cover January to December 2025, while the injury analysis will examine industry performance from April 2022 onwards to assess trends over multiple years.

Imports of hot-rolled coils from China rose to 0.77 million tonnes in FY25, accounting for 18.9% of India’s total HRC imports, while shipments from Japan climbed to 1.25 million tonnes, making up 30.6% of imports. Russia’s exports to India remained negligible in FY25 after falling sharply from FY23, according to BigMint.

The investigation covers hot-rolled flat products of alloy or non-alloy steel that are not clad, plated or coated, with a thickness of up to 25 mm and a width of up to 2,100 mm. These products are widely used across sectors such as automobiles, oil and gas pipelines, construction, engineering, capital goods and manufacturing. The investigation does not include stainless steel products.

Interested parties, including exporters, importers and the governments of the subject countries, have been asked to submit their responses through the watchdog’s portal within 37 days of receiving the investigation notice. The authority will examine submissions from all stakeholders before issuing its final findings and recommending whether anti-dumping duties should be imposed.