NEW DELHI: The government has extended the anti-dumping duty imposed on Vitamin E imports from China for another five years.
A duty of up to $1.77 per kg of import will be levied on all forms of processed Vitamin E shipped in to India from China, the Customs Department said in a notification issued on Wednesday.
However, the product in its natural form has been exempted from anti-dumping duty, the notification said.
The Finance Ministry had imposed the duty on Chinese Vitamin E in March 2009 for five years and later extended till March 2015. The fresh notification came after the Directorate General of anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD) found that Vitamin E in various forms was still being imported in to India at lower than its normal market rate.
The move to extend duty on imported product will keep a check on India’s import and encourage domestic production of Vitamin E and its derivatives used mainly in medicines and diet supplements.
However, domestic manufacturers say that implementing duty restriction is not enough to boost in-house production. Measures to remove obstacles in licencing procedure and ensuring single-window clearance, are the key to encourage domestic entrepreneurs.
People engaged in the trade say that imported products cost almost 50% cheaper than those available within the country. “Larger players including public sector units like Hindustan Antibiotics Limited are unable to produce adequate quantity of Vitamin E as per the market demand due to high production cost,” said Sunil Game, Director of Codon Healthcare Services Pvt Ltd.
He said that the requirement of high investment in research and development and delayed documentation procedure deter many entrepreneurs from entering the business.
“Earlier, doctors used to prescribe varieties of medicines to check which one works best on a particular patient. Now, technological advancement has brought in the concept of personalised medicine. With proper support from the government, we can do research on the impact of different ingredients and come up with the best suitable drug for people suffering from certain category of illness,” Game told The Dollar Business.
India imported Vitamin E worth $12.69 million last year, which was more than 13% up from $11.16 million of import value recorded a year ago, Commerce Ministry data said. Of the country’s total Vitamin E import, the share of Chinese suppliers was more than $6 million in the past two years.
In terms of volume, India imported more than 5 million tonnes of Vitamin E, an increase of more than 34% from 3.85 million tonnes of inbound shipment in 2013-14.
According to the International Trade Centre, China is the world’s biggest exporter of Vitamin E followed by Netherlands, US and France. China’s total annual export constitutes more that 50% of the overall export of the product across the globe.
