- JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and India would resume talks next month on prospects of lifting an anti-dumping tax the latter had imposed on the Kingdom's polypropylene exports, an informed source said.
Commerce and Industry Minister Abdullah Zainal Alireza will lead the Saudi delegation for new talks in New Delhi, Indian trade mission in Geneva said, adding that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will lead the Indian team.
Analysts have given utmost importance for the next round of talks as previous bilateral negotiations have failed to reach an agreement. New Delhi imposed anti-dumping tax on Saudi PP exports in July 2009.
India imports 25,000 tons of polypropylene from Saudi Arabia annually. Before imposing the anti-dumping tax of 1.5 percent per ton or $20-22, Saudi polypropylene was the lowest priced product in the market.
Saudi Export Development Center's (SEDC) executive council Chairman Abdul Rahman Al-Zamil described the 22 percent tax as "unreasonable," and urged New Delhi reconsider the decision in the light of the strategic trade relations between the two countries.
According to Al-Zamil, India imposed anti-dumping taxes on Saudi polypropylene exports, saying it had cheaper feedstock. "The availability of cheap feedstock in the Kingdom is quite natural as a result of abundant local gas supply and the location of petrochemical plants closer to gas pipelines," he said.