KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): The government has decided to initiate a preliminary investigation on imports of cellulose fibre reinforced cement flat and pattern sheets or fibre cement board (FCB) from Indonesia following a petition from a domestic producer, UAC Bhd .

In a statement today, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) said the petitioner alleged that imports of FCB from Indonesia are being dumped into Malaysia at a price much lower than their domestic selling price.

“It was further claimed that dumped imports of FCB from the alleged country had increased in terms of absolute quantity and have caused material injury to the domestic industry in Malaysia producing the like product.

“The government had considered the prima facie evidence of dumping, injury and causal link and decided to initiate an anti-dumping investigation on imports of FCB from the alleged country,” said MITI.

In accordance with the Countervailing and Anti-Dumping Duties Act 1993 and its related Regulations, a preliminary determination will be made within 120 days from the date of initiation, the ministry said.

“If the preliminary determination is affirmative, the government will impose a provisional anti-dumping duty at the rate that is necessary to prevent further injury to the domestic industry,” it said.

MITI said it will provide a set of questionnaires to interested parties (importers, foreign producers, exporters and associations) while other interested parties may request for the questionnaires no later than August 12 this year.

Interested parties may also provide additional supporting evidence to MITI on or before Aug 26, 2019 and in the event that no response is received within the specified period, the government will make its preliminary findings based on the available facts, it added.