Alan Peat THE US is top of the tree in anti-dumping actions, according to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) - with China being the major recipient. In figures released to FTW by Deloitte & Touche, the WTO secretariat has reported that - in the period January 1 to June 30 this year - 18 member countries initiated 79 anti-dumping investigations against exports from a total of 30 different countries. “This,” they said, “represents a significant decline from the corresponding period of 2002 during which 17 WTO members initiated 149 anti-dumping investigations.” Most investigations were conducted by the US with 16; India (12); and China (11) - with SA’s two investigations slotting it into the 6-or-fewer category. The countries challenged by these anti-dumping investigations were China, with its 12 cases being down from the 21 it faced in the first half of last year; followed by Korea with eight; India (6); Taiwan, Japan and the US (5); and SA’s two investigations placing it in the “others (three or fewer)” slot. The product categories that were the main targets in these investigations were chemicals with 26; base metals with 15; and plastics (10). At the end of it all, 16 WTO members imposed a total of 112 final anti-dumping measures against exports from 41 countries - versus the 99 for the corresponding period in 2002. The main players amongst the countries in which final measures were imposed were: India and Turkey with 21 each; Thailand (20); Argentina (18); and China (11). These measures, in turn, were mainly slapped on: China with 16; Korea and Russia with 7 each; Taiwan, SA and Thailand (6 each); Indonesia and Kazakhstan (5 each); and the European Community (EC), India, Romania and Singapore (4 each). The main product categories involved in these cases included: base metals (43); plastics (31); and chemicals (22).
