India seeks to continue anti-dumping duties on Bangladesh’s jute products

Indian authorities are expected to recommend the continuation of anti-dumping duties on Bangladesh’s jute products despite a decline in overall shipments in recent years, raising concerns among local millers.

The development comes as India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) released the findings of its mid-term review of anti-dumping duties on jute goods exported from Bangladesh and Nepal.

The Indian authority released its findings on Wednesday, suggesting that Bangladeshi exporters continued to dump jute products, causing injury to the domestic industry.

The neighbouring country imposed anti-dumping duties, ranging from $19 to $352 per tonne, on jute yarn/twine, hessian fabric and jute sacking bags from Bangladesh and Nepal. It later expanded the scope of the duties to include jute sacking cloth from Bangladesh, leading to a slump in overall shipments of jute goods to India.

India was one of the largest export markets for Bangladesh’s jute and jute goods, and the punitive measure affected shipments from the country.

The DGTR initiated a mid-term review in June 2025 following an appeal by the Indian Jute Mills Association and the AP Mesta Twine Mills Association to examine the need to enhance anti-dumping duties on jute products exported from Bangladesh and Nepal.

It sought responses from 54 millers in Bangladesh and 36 in Nepal. Some 38 jute mills responded from Bangladesh and five from Nepal.

The DGTR sampled responses from 10 Bangladeshi producers for detailed examination and concluded that three local exporters dumped jute goods in India by selling the products at prices lower than those in their domestic market.

The Indian authority said that while demand in India declined by 20 percent during the investigation period, imports from Bangladesh and Nepal fell by only 13 percent, indicating that foreign producers were gaining market share at the expense of Indian mills.

The DGTR report said Indian producers had reportedly been forced to reduce their prices to compete with low-priced imports, leading to negligible returns on capital.

It found varying dumping margins — the difference between the normal value of a product and its export price — among Bangladeshi millers, ranging from 5 percent to 55 percent.

For Nepalese producers, it found dumping margins ranging from 20 percent to 30 percent and suggested that interested parties submit their comments on the findings by June 24, 2026.

According to the DGTR report, Bangladesh’s jute goods exports to India fell by 18 percent year on year to 1.17 lakh tonnes in 2024-25, down from 1.43 lakh tonnes in the previous year.

Mostafa Abid Khan, a former member of the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission, said the mid-term review suggested that the Indian authorities were likely to seek higher anti-dumping duties on jute goods from Bangladesh despite a decline in Bangladeshi exports during the 2024–25 investigation period.

The matter warranted careful consideration by the Indian government, he added.

WHAT DOES THE LOCAL INDUSTRY SAY?

Tapash Pramanik, chairman of the Bangladesh Jute Spinners Association (BJSA), denied allegations of dumping by local jute millers in the Indian market.

“We have informed them (Indian authorities) on many occasions. They do not pay heed,” he said.

Referring to the Indian industry’s argument regarding high export subsidies, he said the export incentives received by local millers were modest. Jute yarn exporters get 3 percent, while hessian exporters get 5 percent.

“Overall, our cost of production is higher than that of our counterparts in India,” added the chief of the BJSA, which represents the largest export earners in the jute industry.

Pramanik said India enjoys a huge trade surplus with Bangladesh and could have overlooked the issue to reduce the bilateral trade imbalance.

“Our exports of jute products to India have dropped significantly since the imposition of anti-dumping duty in 2017. We can export jute products only through one port, and it is Mumbai,” he said.

Last year, India restricted imports of a range of jute products and woven fabrics from Bangladesh via land ports, allowing them only through the Nhava Sheva Port in Mumbai.

“This will be a disaster. Any new measure will hit exports further,” Pramanik said, terming the move ‘one-sided, coercive and discriminatory’.