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TMI Blog2023 (6) TMI 15X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... quirements. It is, therefore, clear that Hindalco does not produce lithograde aluminium coils above 1150 mm on a commercial basis and it was only on a trial basis that this product was supplied to the appellant which also could not meet the technical requirements. The designated authority, therefore, committed an error in observing that Hindalco had supplied lithograde aluminium coils beyond 1150 mm and up to 1600 mm to the appellant when only miniscule supply had been made. In such a situation when commercial production had not been undertaken by Hindalco of this product, the issue of demand-supply gap would not arise. At its plant, the appellant subjects the lithographic coils to the electro-chemical graining process for conversion into offset printing plates. Electro-chemical graining is a process by which the surface of the coil is evenly roughened to improve the adhesion of the coating layer to the coils which improves the water/ink balance of the printing by the printers through exposure and developing. Technically the electro graining can only be done in the direction in which the coil has been rolled by Hindalco. After undergoing graining, the coils then undergo, inter-alia ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Respondent No. 3 Ms. Reena Asthana Khair and Ms. Shreya Dahiya, Advocates for Respondent No.15 Shri Devesh Tripathi, Shri Rajesh Sharma, Ms. Roopali Sharma and Shri Nikhil Sharma, Advocates for Respondent No.10 17 Shri Ameet Singh and Ms. Bhawna, Advocates for Designated Authority Shri Viswajeet Saharan, Authorised Representative for the Central Government ORDER Technova Imaging Systems Private Limited [the appellant] has filed this appeal to assail the final findings dated 07.09.202 issued by the designated authority and the consequential customs notification dated 06.12.2021 issued by the Central Government imposing anti-dumping duty on certain flat rolled products of aluminium [the subject goods] from China PR. The second relief that has been claimed is to grant exclusion to higher width Lithograde Aluminium coils above 1150 mm width , which are not commercially manufactured and supplied by the domestic industry i.e., Hindalco Industries Ltd. [Hindalco] 2. During the hearing of the appeal, Shri V. Lakshmikumaran, learned counsel for the appellant assisted by Shri Devinder Bagia, Shri Ankur Sharma, Shri Jayant Raghu Ram and Shri Ashutosh Arvind Kumar, restricted his submissions ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t. b) The domestic industry has suffered material injury and the injury margin is positive. The examination of the imports of the subject product and the performance of the domestic industry shows that the volume of dumped imports from the subject country has increased in both absolute and relative terms. The volume of the subject goods has increased by more than 60% whereas demand has increased by only 18%. It is also noted that the imports of the subject goods from the subject country are suppressing the prices of the domestic industry. The production and the sales of the domestic industry have remained largely stable in the period of investigation while the capacity utilization remains suboptimal. It is noted that the market share of domestic industry has declined by 12% in the period of investigation whereas market share of the imports from the subject country has increased by 35%. The performance of the domestic industry has significantly deteriorated in respect of profits, cash profits and return on capital employed. The domestic industry has suffered financial losses, cash losses and negative return on investments in the period of investigation. c) The material injury suffer ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... non-absorbent substrates like tin sheets or poly films. The use of Aluminium offset printing plates in the printing process enables the digital workflow to directly transfer the image from a computer to the plate' using lasers, unlike the analog workflow that requires an intermediary film to transfer the image. Aluminium offset printing plates are manufactured from high purity lithograde aluminium coils, which is the principal raw material for its manufacture. The appellant is the sole manufacturer of Aluminium offset printing plates in India and, accordingly, is also the sole user of lithograde aluminium coils in India. Hindalco is the only Indian manufacturer of certain lithograde aluminium coils. The appellant claims that it buys the entire production of Hindalco of lower width lithograde aluminium coils but even at full capacity, Hindalco is unable to fulfil the demand of the appellant for lithograde aluminium coils below 1150 mm as during the period of investigation, the appellant had a demand more than 16,000 MT of lower width lithograde aluminium coils, out of which only around 10,000 MT were supplied by Hindalco. Thus, the appellant has to fulfil this demand of lower wi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts all the specified requirements. xii. No industry or manufacturer can supply products meeting all specifications at all times. Depending upon the industry and product in question, there will be some products in a batch or over multiple batches that may not meet all specifications. In such cases, those products are returned and amounts for the same are adjusted for future orders or refunded. This in itself cannot be a ground for exclusion. 10. The submissions made by the other interested parties on the product under consideration are as follows: C.2 Submissions made by the other interested parties 6. The following are the submission made by the other interested parties with regard to the product under consideration and like article: a to c ***** d. Exclusion requests : Following exclusions have been requested by the opposing interested parties: ***** i to xv ***** Lithograde Aluminium Cois above 1150 mm width xvi. Aluminium offset printing plates are manufactured from high purity litho-grade aluminium coils which is the crucial and principal raw material for its manufacturing. Litho-grade aluminium coils, which has been made a part of the current PUC, are a special grade of alumin ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ubmitted by the domestic industry and finds that the domestic industry has supplied Lithograde Aluminium coils beyond 1150 mm and up to 1600 mm width to one of the parties. Accordingly, this is included within the scope of the PUC. 27. The Authority notes that a possible demand-supply gap does not justify the exclusion of particular product types where they are comparable to the product under consideration in terms of characteristics such as physical chemical characteristics, functions uses, product specifications, distribution marketing and tariff classification of the goods. 28. Interested parties have argued that the supply of these coils by domestic industry had been on a trial basis out of which many of them failed to produce the desired quality standards required and were liable to be rejected. 29. The Authority notes that if the government has prescribed certain standards of a product and the product supplied by the domestic industry conforms to such standards, the consumers cannot contend that the product type produced by the domestic industry does not meet the desired standards. It is also noted that nothing substantial has been provided by the interested parties to demons ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the domestic industry has produced and supplied higher width lithograde aluminium coils above 1150 mm; (ii) As the appellant purchases the entire quantity of lithograde aluminium coils produced by the domestic industry it would mean that the domestic industry produces lithograde aluminium coils equivalent to the orders received by it from the appellant. This is for the reason that the appellant is the sole buyer and the user of lithograde aluminium coils; (iii) The cheap dumped imports of lithograde aluminium coils from China PR have cannibalized the potential sales that can be realized by the domestic industry from the appellant which is the sole customer; (iv) If certain grades of the product under consideration are exempted on the basis that they cannot cater to the entire demand/requirement of that particular grade in India and cheap dumped imports at unfair prices are allowed to continue as they did before the imposition of anti-dumping duty through the customs notification, the domestic industry would never be able increase capacity with respect to such grades; (v) A supply demand gap cannot be the basis for not levying anti-dumping duty; (vi) Grant of exclusion to litho ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndalco that only 2% of the total demand of lithograde aluminium coils above 1150 mm were supplied to the appellant and nor has it been denied that 25% of such trial quantity were rejected by the appellant. In the final findings, the designated authority placed reliance on few invoices of supply of lithograde aluminium coils above 1150 mm by Hindalco and held that the possible demand-supply gap would not justify the exclusion of this product from imposition of anti-dumping duty. 21. The issue of demand-supply gap would arise only if Hindalco was commercially producing and supplying lithograde aluminium coils above 1150 mm. This demand as supply gap may make sense for lithograde aluminium coils below 1150 mm because Hindalco was commercially producing the same even though it could not meet the entire demand of the appellant. 22. It needs to be noted that the Manual of Standard Operating Practices for Trade Remedy Investigations issued by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies, Department of Commerce, Government of India provides in Article 3.10 that provides that product under consideration should include only those items which are manufactured by the domestic industry. In fact, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ng that Hindalco had supplied lithograde aluminium coils beyond 1150 mm and up to 1600 mm to the appellant when only miniscule supply had been made. In such a situation when commercial production had not been undertaken by Hindalco of this product, the issue of demand-supply gap would not arise. 25. The designated authority also noted that Hindalco is manufacturing lithograde aluminium coil as per the applicable BIS Standards and thus, the issue of failing the testing requirements cannot be raised by the appellant. The designated authority has not made any specific reference to the BIS Standard that the product satisfies and neither the learned counsel for the Hindalco placed any particular standard, particularly when learned counsel for the appellant had specifically stated that there are no BIS Standard covering this product. 26. Learned counsel for Hindalco also submitted that giving exclusion to wider width coils will lead to circumvention of anti-dumping duty imposed on the coils of less than 1150 mm width. The contention is that since the coils are of several hundred feet in length, the appellant can cut the lower width coil taking the length as the breadth of the newly cut p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... next process stage easily. Flattener The web is then passed through de-curl assembly to achieve required flatness. Auto Inspection The web is inspected by Auto-inspection system. Defective plates are tabbed segregated from the conveyor belt. Cutting/Slitting The auto-inspected web passes through edge, centre cut- to length stations, gets finished to customer required sizes. Packaging The Plates are collected from Conveyor Belt, wrapped in black polyethylene paper, boxed in a foldover identified by label. Conditioning The plates are subjected to conditioning process. Post final inspection; the plates are released for dispatch to customer. 29. Learned counsel for the appellant also submitted that in the manufacturing of aluminium offset printing plates, the grain direction and rolling direction play an important role. The hot rolling and cold rolling process which is undertaken by Hindalco at its factory to produce the lithographich coils introduces a strong directional alignment in aluminium in the form of rolling lines and this directional alignment is called as grain direction . 30. At its plant, the appellant subjects the lithographic coils to the electro-chemical graining proces ..... 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