TSAIP says GCC ceramics industry hit by Chinese, Indian imports

The GCC Bureau of Technical Secretariat for Anti Injurious Practices (TSAIP) in International Trade has announced the results of anti-dumping investigations against imports of ceramics and porcelain products of Indian, Chinese and Spanish origin to the GCC.

Indian and Chinese imports were proved to be injurious to GCC manufacturers of ceramics and porcelain.

In November 2018, Saudi Ceramic Co. said the Permanent Committee of Anti Injurious practices in the International Trade approved the counter-dumping complaint submitted by the company, Al-Fanar Factory and other ceramic manufacturers in Saudi Arabia and the GCC region.

The following results were reached by the GCC Bureau of Technical Secretariat:

- Dumping margins ranged between 5.8% and 106%.

- A significant increase in Chinese and Indian imports in an absolute manner, or as a percentage of production. The Chinese and Indian imports had grown their market share at the expense of GCC products, along with imports from Spain and other countries.

- An import parity price was found between the average selling prices of GCC products, and the Chinese and Indian products. In addition, the GCC industry was unable to increase selling prices to cover production costs.

- The GCC ceramic production and sales decreased. The economic factors of the industry were impacted for the period from 2013 until the year of investigation.

- No definite impact was found for the Spanish imports.

The following table illustrates the final dumping margins as a percentage of the Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) value: 

The GCC-TSAIP concluded that the imports of the products under investigation are imported into the GCC market at dumped prices. The dumping margin of Chinese, Indian and Spanish imports was proven to be significant.

The three countries' imports were significant, accounting for over 3% for each country of the GCC region's total imports.

Furthermore, the GCC TSAIP determined that the material injury suffered by the GCC industry during the investigation period is caused by the dumped imports from China and India.

Therefore, sufficient evidence during the investigation had existed on the causal link between the dumped imports and the material injury suffered by the GCC industry.