India’s ceramic hub concerned about US manufacturers seeking anti-dumping duty

Efforts by US tile manufacturers to seek 400-800% anti-dumping duty on Indian tiles and wall tiles could severely hurt the tile industry in Morbi, India’s ceramic hub, industry leaders said on Friday.

India exported ceramic tiles worth Rs. 15,000 crore in 2023-24, with the US market accounting for a substantial Rs. 1,600 crore of these exports, according to an official at the Morbi Ceramic Association. The ceramic industry, with an annual turnover of Rs. 60,000 crore, employs over 5 lakh people directly and indirectly, ranking second globally in both tile production and consumption.

If implemented, the proposed US anti-dumping duty would affect the competitiveness of Indian tiles from the US, Indian ceramic manufacturers said.

The Coalition for Fair Trade in Ceramic Tile, which represents more than 90% of US tile production, asked the federal government on April 10 to impose significant tariffs on ceramic tile imports from India to address what it described as unfairly low-priced imports that hurt domestic manufacturers. The anti-dumping petition from the industry proposes tariffs ranging from 408% to 828%.

Haresh Bopaliya, president of the Morbi Ceramic Tiles Association, said: “It would set a wrong precedent. We have presented our side to the US government through their online portal. The US-based ceramic tile manufacturers have submitted a memorandum for imposing an anti-dumping duty of up to 800% on Indian ceramic tiles. They complain about the lower prices of imported tiles. We can afford anti-dumping duty up to 10%”.

Bopaliya added that the situation has been further compounded by recent challenges faced by the industry which have led to a decline in production by 10-15% over the last few months.

Despite these challenges, the industry is optimistic about the future, with 35-40 new factories coming up in the last eight months. However, the looming threat of the anti-dumping duty has cast a shadow over these expansion plans, said a ceramic tile manufacturer.