IN the first
half of the current calendar year, the WTO Secretariat has reported that the
number of initiations of anti-dumping probes has registered a 29% decline
compared to the same period last year.
In
particular, during January-June 2010, 19 WTO Members reported initiating a total
of 69 new investigations, compared with 97 new investigations reported by 18 WTO
Members for the corresponding period of 2009. A total of 14 Members reported
applying 59 new anti-dumping measures during the first semester of 2010, with a
decrease of 5% than the 62 new measures reported by 16 Members for the
corresponding period of 2009. Fifteen new investigations were opened by
developed Members and 10 out of 59 new final measures were applied by developed
Members during the first half of 2010. This compares with 15 new investigations
begun and 15 new measures applied by developed Members during the first half of
2009.
The
Members reporting the highest number of new initiations during January — June
2010 were India, reporting 17 new initiations, followed by the European Union,
reporting 8 new initiations, Argentina (7), Brazil and Israel (5 each). Other
Members reporting initiations were Australia and China (4 each), Indonesia and
Korea (3 each), Colombia, Thailand and the United States (2 each), and Canada,
Chile, Jamaica, Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Turkey and Ukraine (1 each). These
figures represented increases for India, the European Union, Brazil and Israel,
and declines for Argentina, China, Indonesia, Colombia, the United States,
Canada, Turkey and Ukraine. The number of initiations by Australia and Mexico
remained unchanged compared with the numbers reported for January — June 2009.
Chile, Jamaica, Korea, Chinese Taipei and Thailand, which did not report new
initiations for January — June 2009, reported new initiations for the first
semester of 2010, while Costa Rica, Pakistan, Peru and South Africa, which
reported new initiations for the first half of 2009, did not report new
initiations for the first half of 2010.
During the first half of 2010, China was the most frequent subject of the
new investigations, with 23 new initiations directed at its exports. This was a
30% decrease from the 33 new investigations opened in respect of exports from
China during January — June 2009. The European Union (including individual
member States) was next with 11 new investigations directed at its exports,
followed by the United States (5), Korea and Thailand (4 each), Malaysia and
Chinese Taipei (3 each), Brazil and Japan (2 each), and Belarus, Bosnia &
Herzegovina, Chile, Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Norway,
Singapore, South Africa, Ukraine, and Vietnam (one each).
The
products most frequently affected by these new investigations during the first
half of 2010 were in the base metals sector (20 initiations), the chemicals
sector (11 initiations), the plastics and rubber sector (7 initiations) and the
plaster and ceramic products sector (6 initiations). Of the 20 reported
initiations relating to the base metals sector, 6 were reported by India, 3 by
Indonesia, two each by Colombia, the European Union, Thailand and the United
States, and one each by Argentina, Israel and Korea.
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