The Federation, in a letter to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, claimed that the duty had been initially removed, but has now been recommended again to “protect the interest” of just one manufacturer in the country; it said the duty would lead to closures in the cloth manufacturing sector
THE HINDU BUREAU | ERODE
January 02, 2023
The Tamil Nadu Federation of Powerlooms Associations has urged the Central government to reject the recommendations of the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) that has recommended the levying of anti-dumping duty (ADD) on viscose staple fibre.
In a letter to the Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, the Federation’s coordinator T.S.A. Subramanian said that the power loom sector in India is the largest woven cloth manufacturing sector, accounting for 85% of the total cloth produced in the country. The country currently has around 3.86 lakh power loom units in the decentralized sector and 25 lakh power looms, including around 1.5 lakh shuttle-less looms, providing direct jobs to around 5 million people.
The high volatility in cotton prices has had a severe impact on the powerloom sector and the timely removal of anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), monoethylene glycol (MEG), Polyester Staple Fibre, Acrylic Fibre and Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF) enabled the powerloom sector to diversify into manmade fabric (MMF), which is the future growth engine of Indian textiles and the clothing sector, the letter said.
In Tamil Nadu, over 2 lakh power looms have switched over to 100% VSF and contribute significantly to fabric exports. The removal of the abnormal anti-dumping duty of 28% levied on imported VSF enabled the sector to increase the 100% VSF fabrics exports from 25.49 million sq m during 2019-20 to 61.39 million sq m during 2021-22.
The power loom sector had to import up to to 16 million kg of VSF spun yarn per month apart from consuming the domestically produced VSF spun yarn to meet export and domestic demands, the letter said.
The letter added that after considering the sector’s representations and also the representations from various other segments of the VSF textile value chain, the DGTR had rejected the continuation of ADD on VSF in August 2021.
“But, the DGTR has now recommended levying 28% ADD on VSF to protect the interest of only one VSF manufacturer in the country,” the letter claimed and added that if the recommendation was notified, the entire power loom sector in the country, especially in Tamil Nadu, would face closure. The letter urged the Ministry to reject the recommendation. (Source: www.thehindu.com)