A steel furnace at the Lao Cai Cast Iron and Steel Plant at Tang Loong Industrial Zone in Bao Thang District, Lao Cai Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Thang

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — India's Ministry of Finance has decided against imposing safeguard duties on cold-rolled flat stainless-steel products imported from Viet Nam and some other countries, according to the Viet Nam Competition Authority.

The World Trade Organisation's website reported that the Directorate General of Safeguards, under India's Ministry of Finance, had decided to halt the investigation being conducted since September 2014 and avoid imposing safeguard measures against products imported from Viet Nam, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and China, as well as the United States, Mexico and the EU, the Viet Nam Competition Authority said.

The reason for its decision is attributed to the lack of persuasive evidence in favour of applying safeguard measures, including considerations of increasing imported products from investigated firms and facing heavy losses or threats of serious losses in the domestic production sector, it said.

The investigation was conducted following a request from India's Jindal Stainless Steel, which accounts for more than 85 per cent of the total volume of cold-rolled flat stainless-steel products in India.

The company asked the Directorate General of Safeguards to impose safeguarding measures on products imported from certain countries after the investigation into steel products imported by India in the period from April 1, 2011, to March 31, 2014.

Over the past three years, Vietnamese steel products have faced numerous anti-dumping, anti-subsidy and safeguard duties from major importers.

For example, last year, the United States conducted anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations on steel nails, while Canada and Australia launched investigations on oil country tubular goods and zinc-coated steel, respectively. — VNS