India officially launches anti-dumping investigation into China's pretilachlor and PEDA

India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry has officially initiated an anti-dumping investigation concerning imports of the herbicide pretilachlor and its intermediate PEDA (2,6-diethyl-n-(2-propoxyethyl) aniline) from China.

The investigation was triggered by an application filed by domestic company India Pesticides Limited alleging that dumped imports of pretilachlor and PEDA from China are causing material injury to the Indian industry.

According to AgroPages, India purchases a total of about 4-5,000 tons of pretilachlor and PEDA from China every year. The major pretilachlor technical manufacturers in India are DECCAN, HPM, India Pesticide (just put into production in 2023), UNIVERSAL, etc., with a total production capacity of pretilachlor of more than 5,000 tons. India Pesticides Limited, which filed the anti-dumping lawsuit this time, has just acquired a production capacity of 1,000 tons of pretilachlor. Aarti India is supporting the key intermediate PEDA for Indian pretilachlor.

In its initiation notification, the Directorate General of Trade Remedies stated that there is prima facie evidence that pretilachlor and PEDA from China are being dumped into the Indian market at prices below normal values, causing injury to the domestic industry in the form of increased import volumes, price undercutting, price suppression, declining profits, sales and capacity utilization.

The period of investigation (POI) adopted by the Authority for the present investigation is 1st October, 2022 to 30th  September,2023(12 months). The injury investigation period covers the periods 1st April 2020 - 31st March 2021, 1st April 2021 - 31st March 2022, 1st April 2022 – 31st March 2023 and the POI.