ALLEGED DUMPING

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 61, 6 December 1920, Page 5

ALLEGED DUMPING

AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY'

ENDANGERED

Aa allegation of dumping by a' foreign firm with the intention of killing an Australian industry was made' in the Federa. House of Representatives recently bv the Minister of Customs, when moving a motion to prohibit tho importation into the Oommonwealth, except under license of; (.arbid* of calcium, subject to tho condition that the price f.o.b. at Hobart' should not exceed £30 a ton. The Ministor said that when war broke out carbide of calcium was one of tho first of the ' commodities of which the Commonwealth, found itself short, and tluj price roseuntil it reached a figure in tho neighbourhood of XBS a ton. A company was formed *or .the manufacture of the commodity in Btobart. but had' difficulty in securing'-olectrodes necessary for tho 'electric furnaces. Eventually it decided'to manufacture its own olectrodes, and :Aus-r tralian engineers turned out the necessary, machinery, which was entirely new in this country; but this was not until the end of the war. Carbide was now coming into Australia at a price which made it impossible for the company to trade, and unless something was (lone it would have to close' its works. The company hadi Invested .£IOO,OOO in tho industry, ant( had come to the aid of Australia all a, . critical time, and it was not its fault that 'it was unable to meet the demand. Ati the time. Pnrbide was a "key(£ chemical, used in many branches of industry. At present in New Zealand, whore there was no duty, carbide from Canadian and Scandinavian sources was being sold at .£4O a ton. The same co«u~ pany that was dumping carbide into Aus-1 tralia to-day, after paying tho duty of. £l 10s. in force, was 6ell'ing carbide hero aii fully ,£lO a ton less than they wero Relling it in New Zealand—in effect, they were selling at £17 10s. a ton less. Whatever price the Tasmanian company fixed, these people lowered their price.- He believed it was a straight-out case of flumping, with tho idea of squeezing tflie Tnsmatfmn company out of existence, and ho thought it was a fair thing to try and give reasonable protection. Tho price of enrbiilo in tho United Kingdom • to-day was £30 to £35 a ton; in tho United States from .£2B 16s. to .£35 is., ana in France about the same. The company was prepared to give an undertaking that it would not exceed the prico of ,£3O a ton. He was salisttod from figures supplied that the prico gavo only a fair profit, and ho thought the company could supply thn demands of the Commonwealth. Ho did Dot think there was > any doubt that tho Scapdl- ■■ navian company dumping carbido to-day was doing it with with the deliberate intention, of putting tho Tasmanian company out of existence. Tho Minister ad-, ded, in reply to a question, that the Aus--1 tralian company was tho Hydro-Elcctrio Company. / Mr. Tudor quoted figures showing that tho landed ,cost of carbide imported into Australia would be .£l3 a ton in 1913-14, vU3 a tou in 19U-15, .£lO n ton in 1915-16, .£l3 n ton in 1916-17, and JMO a ton in.. 1917-18.

The Minister: It would be double that in 1918-19.

Mr. Tudor urged that an inquiry ought to be held before a monopoly. was given to one company, for there would never bo more than one company mannfaevurimr the article in Australia.

Mr. MTVUlinms said it was eipnifteant Hint the. price of carbide fell from Jl7fl to JJ39 a ton after tho local company wan started. The oompany's price to-day was tho lowest in tho world. If the tho. icsolution was not'passed this wcok. > ,tho». works would close down. . ••'•'■'•'<■!