Product description – “Ofloxacin  and  its intermediates including O-Acid or Ofloxacin Acid and O-Ester or Ofloxacin Ester”. 

HS Codes – Ofloxacin falls under Chapter 29 and 30 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Ofloxacin comes under HS code 30042034 However, the PUC has been imported also under various other HS Codes namely 29419030, 29419060, 29152990, 29163990, 29189900, 29411090, 29349900, 29419090, 29420090.

Uses – Ofloxacin is used to treat certain infections including bronchitis, pneumonia, and infection of the skin, bladder, urinary tract, reproductive organs, and prostate. Ofloxacin is in a class of antibiotics called fluoroquinolones and works by killing bacteria that cause infections.

Countries involved – China PR 

Applicant – M/s Aarti Drugs Limited

Date of Initiation – 17th  September 2021

Period of Investigation – 01st  April 2020 to 31st  March 2021

Injury Period – 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 and the period of investigation

Margins and proposed duty –

Producer	Injury  margin Range	Dumping margin range
M/s Anhui Biocompounds Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.	10-20	25-35
M/s Inner Mongolia Yuanhong Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.	10-20	20-30
M/s Zhejiang Apeloa Kangyu Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.	0-10	0-10
All others	20-30	30-40

Key Findings- 

1. The product under consideration is Ofloxacin and its intermediates O Acid and O Ester. Ofloxacin and its intermediates constitute one product under consideration. O Ester is a prior stage product of O Acid and the duties on O Acid were circumvented by import of O Ester. Thus, despite no imports of O ester from China, it is necessary to include the same within the scope of the product under consideration.
2. The domestic industry has suffered material injury as established by increase in subject imports in absolute and relative terms in the POI as compared to the previous year with cessation of duties on O Acid. It is noted that the imports have increased with the cessation of duties on O Acid. It is also seen that the volume of imports has switched between O Acid, O Acid ester and Ofloxacin depending on the presence or absence of ADD.  The subject imports are undercutting the prices of the domestic industry. The price undercutting has caused price depression in the POI. While production, sales, capacity utilization and market share have declined,  inventories  have  increased  in  the  POI.  Market  share  of  the  domestic  industry declined in the POI with market share of the subject imports increasing. Performance of the domestic industry was improving in respect of profit/loss, profit before interest, cash profit and ROI till 2019-20. However, the performance declined significantly in the POI in respect of these parameters with the increase in imports once again in the POI. The injury margin determined is positive and significant. Having regard to the information on record, analysis hereinabove and the AD rules, the Authority concludes that the domestic industry has suffered material injury.
3. Despite issuing questionnaires for users for quantification of the impact of ADD and to ascertain on how imposition of ADD will adversely impact them, none of the users have provided relevant information. The interested parties have not established possible adverse impact of ADD on the user industry with verifiable information.