WTO Secretariat reports drop in anti-dumping investigations and measures

The WTO Secretariat reported that during the period 1 January — 30 June 2010, the number of initiations of new anti-dumping investigations showed a 29% decrease compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The number of new measures applied also decreased during the first semester of 2010 when compared with the first half of 2009. 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.

News source: WTO .link: article