Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – Indonesian Trade Minister Muhammad Lutfi has welcomed the decision of Brazilian Undersecretary of Commercial Defense and Public Interest (SDCOM) to stop anti-dumping investigations on imports of Cold Rolled Stainless Steel (CRSS), one of which is from Indonesia.

“We welcome SDCOM's decision to stop investigations on anti-dumping CRSS from Indonesia. As the investigating authority, SDCOM has made the right decision. If there is any doubt regarding the loss of the domestic industry, the authorities should immediately stop investigating trade remedies, including dumping," Lutfi said in a statement here on Monday (Nov. 22).

The investigation was stopped because SDCOM's conclusion stated that the loss data submitted by the domestic industry was unproven and contained many errors.

Brazil's anti-dumping CRSS investigation had been running for eight months from February 24, 2021 until it was officially terminated.

Acting Director General of Foreign Trade, Indrasari Wisnu Wardhana, explained that in order to impose an anti-dumping import duty, a dumping investigation should be able to meet three elements as stipulated in the WTO (World Trade Organization) Anti-Dumping Agreement.

The three elements are the existence of dumping imports, the state of domestic industry losses, and the causal relationship between the two. If one of these three elements is not come across, then the imposition of anti-dumping duties is not justified.

“In this case, the element of loss to Brazil's CRSS industry is unconvinced. Thus, a causal relationship cannot be established and the investigation is not worth continuing," Wisnu said.

Data from Indonesia Statistics in 2020 show that Indonesia's CRSS exports to Brazil were recorded at 1.1 million U.S. dollars, or decreased compared to the previous year.

Brazil is not the largest destination country for Indonesia's CRSS exports. Brazil's export share in 2020 was only 0.17 percent of Indonesia's total CRSS global exports, amounting to 601 million dollars.

During the January-September period 2021, Indonesia did not export CRSS to Brazil. However, access to export markets is maintained because Brazil is one of the alternative markets for Indonesia's CRSS exports.

Wisnu added that the Indonesian government should still be vigilant, because the same authority is still carrying out another trade remedy investigation on the same product from Indonesia.

Reporting by Indonesia Window