WTO reports surge in new anti-dumping investigations

21 Oct '08

5 min read

The WTO Secretariat reported that during the period 1 January-30 June 2008 the number of initiations of new anti-dumping investigations showed a sharp 39 per cent increase compared with the corresponding period of 2007. The number of new measures applied also increased, although to a lesser extent, between these periods.

In particular, during January-June 2008, 16 WTO Members reported initiating a total of 85 new investigations, compared with 61 initiations reported by 16 Members for the corresponding period of 2007.

A total of 12 Members reported applying 54 new final anti-dumping measures during the first semester of 2008, six per cent higher than the 51 new measures reported by 17 Members for the corresponding period of 2007. Thirty-one of the 85 new investigations were opened by developed Members, and 13 of the 54 new final measures were applied by developed Members, during the first half of 2008. This compares with 20 new investigations begun and 13 new measures applied by developed Members during the first half of 2007.

The Member reporting the highest number of new initiations during January-June 2008 was Turkey, reporting 13, followed by the United States, reporting 12, India (11), Argentina and the European Communities (10 each), Brazil (7), Australia and Colombia (4 each), Ukraine (3), China (2), and Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Israel, and South Africa (1 each).

These figures represented increases for Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, the European Communities, Israel, Turkey, and the United States, and declines for China, India, Korea, South Africa and Ukraine, compared with the numbers reported for January-June 2007. Egypt and Japan, which had reported new initiations for the first half of 2007, reported no new initiations for January-June 2008.

China was the most frequent subject of the new investigations, with nearly one half (37) of all of the new initiations reported for January-June 2008 directed at its exports.

This was a 76 per cent increase over the 21 new investigations opened in respect of exports from China during January-June 2007. Thailand was next, with seven new investigations directed at its exports, followed by the European Communities (including individual member states) and Indonesia (five each), Korea, Malaysia and Chinese Taipei (four each), and Vietnam (three). Brazil, Canada, India, and the United States were the subject of two new investigations each, and Argentina, Moldova, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and Turkey were the subject of one new investigation each directed at their exports.

Concerning the products affected by these new investigations, the most frequent subjects during the first half of 2008 were in the base metals sector (21 initiations), the textiles sector (20 initiations) and the chemicals sector (10 initiations). Of the 21 reported initiations in respect of base metal products, seven were reported by the European Communities, six by the United States, three each by Argentina and Colombia, and one each by Australia and Canada.

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