On May 30, 2023, the Australian Anti-Dumping Commission (ADC) issued a preliminary determination in the case of anti-dumping investigation of ammonium nitrate products originating from Lithuania and Vietnam. Accordingly, Vietnam is considered not to cause damage or threaten to cause damage, leading to not being subject to anti-dumping duty.
The case of anti-dumping investigation of ammonium nitrate products into the Australian market was initiated by ADC on June 8, 2022 with 3 countries, namely Chile, Lithuania and Vietnam as in 2021, Australia imported a large amount of ammonium nitrate products with a volume of about 71,251 tons, equivalent to a turnover of USD 23.36 million.
Among the 5 countries that export the largest total amount of ammonium nitrate to Australia, Vietnam, Chile and Lithuania are currently the 3 countries subject to investigation for the act of dumping ammonium nitrate products. In August 2022, ADC announced the termination of the investigation with Chile because the country did not export ammonium nitrate products during the investigation period.
On the side of Vietnamese businesses, during the course of participating in the case, the Vietnamese parties fully cooperated with ADC by providing timely and accurate information, including survey questionnaires to verify information. The cooperation with goodwill from the Vietnamese side is one of the most important reasons leading to ADC's determination.
According to ADC's Preliminary Determination, Ammonium nitrate products originating from Lithuania and Vietnam were dumped during the investigation period from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022 with a total export volume of Vietnam's ammonium nitrate products entering Australia in 2020 about 38.6 thousand tons, roughly 6 times higher than in 2019.
However, after analyzing the actual damage, ADC concluded that ammonium nitrate products originating from Lithuania and Vietnam did not cause damage or threaten to cause damage to the similar domestic product manufacturing industry of Australia when the total production of these two countries accounts for only 0.8% and 0.2% of the ammonium nitrate market share in Australia, respectively.
Therefore, ADC proposes not to impose anti-dumping duties on ammonium nitrate products originating from these two countries.
The next stages of the anti-dumping investigation of ammonium nitrate products
It is expected that within 20 days from the date of issuance of the Preliminary Determination, the interested parties will have to send comments to the Australian investigative agency. The expected timeline is June 19, 2023.
ADC's time to issue the Final Investigation Determination is expected to be August 8, 2023. Once the Final Determination is available, within 30 days, the Australian Minister of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources will make a final formal decision to impose duty or not to impose duty, with a specific duty rate.
Preliminary determination of the investigation agency can be downloaded here.
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