The number of cases in which the Ministry of Trade ("Ministry") has closed an investigation without applying any antidumping duties is considerably low, considering that there have only been six (6) such cases within the past five (5) years. Taking a closer look at the Ministry's investigations, it can be quickly deduced that most of these cases (namely, four out of six) did not include any anti-dumping duties due to the applicants' withdrawal of their applications during the relevant investigation terms. The remaining two cases, however, actually relate to investigations in which the Ministry has made evaluations and completed its reviews, and ultimately decided not to impose any anti-dumping duties. One of these decisions dates back to 2016, while the other one is fairly recent, dating 2018.
Through the Communiqué No. 2017/11 dated May 14,2017, the Ministry had initiated an investigation, upon receiving the application of Cam Elyaf Sanayii A.Ş. ("Cam Elyaf"), Turkey's sole domestic manufacturer of glass fiber, in order to determine whether the prices of glass fiber reinforced materials classified as "glass reinforced and trimmed yams shorter than 50 millimeters" under the CN Code 7019.11.00. 00.00, "cords" under the CN Code 7019.12.00. 00.00, "of filaments" under the CN Code 7019.19.10.00.00, "of discontinuous fibers" under the CN Code 7019.19.90.00.00, "reinforcement layers" under the CN Code 7019.31.00. 00.00, "of weavable fibers (except pipe and tube isolation molds and covers)" under the CN Code 7019.90.00.10.00, and "glass fiber mat" under the CN Code 7019.90.00. 30.00, originating from Egypt had been subject to dumping activities. The Ministry conducted its research and reached its assessment based on the data available within the period of January 1, 2014 through to December 31, 2016. The Briefing Report, which was published together with the Communiqué No. 2018/31, dated September 26,2018 ("Communiqué"), indicated that (i) Cam Elyaf had fully cooperated with the investigation and provided all the necessary documents, (ii) six (6) of the exporter companies had completed the question forms, and (iii) Jushi Egypt for Fiberglass Industry S.A.E, which was identified as the company that imports the products subject to the investigation into Turkey, had also duly completed the questionnaire, and had fully cooperated with the Ministry over the course of the investigation.
Through the Communiqué, the Ministry announced that it had concluded the investigation by deciding not to impose any anti-dumping duties on Egypt. According to the Briefing Report, during the course of the investigation, the Ministry had examined the economic data and indicators of Cam Elyaf between 2014 and 2016, and it had concluded that certain economic indicators of the company, such as its capacity utilization rate, unit sale profits (both domestically and overseas), efficiency, stocks, stock circulation rate, and product cash flow, had improved in general, along with its rising level of profitability. The Briefing Report also stated that the company had been horizontally advancing in terms of various indicators, such as domestic sales quantity, industrial cost and commercial cost, and even experiencing some deterioration in certain economic indicators, such as manufacturing, export quantity, employment, and capacity. However, the Ministry also expressed the view that the favorable economic situation of Cam Elyaf, resulting from indexes of both domestic and overseas unit profitability, also had an effect on (and was reflected in) the company's overall financial structure, ensuring that its cash flow and assets remained healthy and steadily progressed. Accordingly, the Ministry decided to close the investigation without imposing any anti-dumping duties on the imports of the products subject to the investigation originating from Egypt, as the totality of the indicators, which were observed to be advancing horizontally and reflecting an overall positive economic state, did not indicate that Cam Elyaf had faced any material damages.
The other investigation that concluded without the imposition of any anti-dumping duties, which dates back to 2016, was related to the imports of biaxially oriented polypropylene films ("BOPP Films"), which is classified as "others" under the CN Code 3920.20.21.00.19, originating from the People's Republic of China, Egypt, India and Saudi Arabia. This investigation was launched upon the application of two domestic manufacturers in Turkey, namely "Super Film Ambalaj Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş." and "Polinas Plastik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş." Similar to the glass fiber reinforced materials case, the Ministry reasoned that the related imports had not caused any deterioration for the domestic manufacturers and that, conversely, the domestic manufacturers had actually experienced some improvement with regard to their basic economic indicators. Therefore, the Ministry determined that the results of its investigation did not indicate any material damage within the domestic industry, and thus decided to close the investigation without applying any anti-dumping duties.
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