29 August 2023
Business day
by Michelle Gumede
The International Trade Administration Commission of SA (lTAC) has initiated a review of an anti-dumping duty on unframed glass mirrors imported from fellow Brics member China after an application by SA’s sole manufacturer of the products.
The duty on Chinese unframed glass mirrors, which are between 2mm and 6mm thick, expires on December 12. Springs—based PFG Building Glass, a division of the PG Group, produces 260,000 tones of oat glass a year as well as laminated glass and mirror products.
“The applicant alleges that the expiry of the duty would likely lead to the recurrence of dumping and material Injury," lTAC says in the Government Gazette. According to WTO rules, any denitive antidumping duty should be terminated not more than five years after implementation.
SA re-imposed a provisional duty of 40.2% on imports of unframed mirrors from China in 2013, which was extended for a further five years in 2018 after a review. The trade authority said its investigation will analyze data from January 2022 to the end of December 2022, while an injury investigation involves the evaluation of data for the period January 2020 to December 2022.
The fact-finding mission includes sending out non-confidential versions of the application and questionnaires to all known importers, exporters and known representative associations. The mission will also have to consider estimates of the situation should the anti-dumping duty expire.