Sixteen members of the World Trade Organization reported a surge in new anti-dumping investigations in the first half of 2008, according to the WTO Secretariat. The figure was 39 percent higher than in the same period of 2007. The number of retaliatory measures by WTO countries also increased during that time, the group said. Between January and June of 2008, the 16 countries initiated a total of 85 new investigations, compared with 61 such actions in the first half of 2007. Thirty-one of the 85 investigations were commenced by developed members, who also accounted for 13 of the new final measures that were applied in that period. That compares with 20 new investigations and 13 new measures by developed members during the first half of 2007. The country reporting the highest number of new initiatives during the January-June, 2008 period was Turkey, with 13. It was followed by the U.S. with 12, India with 11, Argentina and the European Communities with 10 each, Brazil with seven, Australia and Colombia with four each, Ukraine with three, China with two, and one each by Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Israel and South Africa. China was the most frequent subject of the new investigations, accounting for 37 actions targeting its exports. That was a 76-percent increase over the 21 new investigations that were opened in response to Chinese exports between January and June of 2007. As for types of products, the most frequent targets of new investigations during the first half of 2008 were base metals (21 initiations), textiles (20 initiations) and chemicals (10 initiations).
World Trade Organization