Govt. revokes anti-dumping duty on viscose fibre

‘It will encourage powerlooms to achieve an exponential growth rate’

The Union government on Thursday revoked the anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre originating in or exported from China and Indonesia.

A notification issued by the Ministry of Finance on August 12 says, the government revokes anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre, excluding bamboo fibre, exported from China or Indonesia.

The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) recently recommended the withdrawal of anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre originating in or exported from Indonesia or China and are imported by India.

The DGTR had studied the imports from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. The injury analysis period covered 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020.

Industry hails decision

Indian textile industry on Friday welcomed the Government’s decision saying it would have an impact on prices of both, viscose fibre and yarn.

While viscose fibre attracts 5% import duty besides anti-dumping duty, viscose yarn attracts only import duty. Import of viscose staple fibre attracted $0.103 to $0.512 of anti-dumping duty per kg for imports from countries such as Indonesia.

Ashwin Chandran, chairman of Southern India Mills’ Association, said in a press release on Friday that the viscose staple fibre produced by a single indigenous manufacturer was very expensive.

The deemed export price concept extended by the indigenous manufacturer greatly affected the powerloom and downstream sectors, as the industry is predominantly MSME and fragmented.

MSME segments

The anti-dumping duty on viscose fibre ranged between $ 0.103 per kg and $ 0.512 per kg. The removal of anti-dumping duty on VSF would greatly benefit the MSME segments.

The viscose spinning segment was facing severe challenge due to duty free import of VSF spun yarn from the ASEAN countries though it benefited the powerloom and the downstream sectors.

Over two lakh powerlooms in Tamil Nadu have migrated to VSF fabric production in the recent years and the duty removal would encourage the powerlooms in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country to achieve an exponential growth rate.

Fibre consumption

T. Rajkumar, chairman of Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said global consumption of man-made fibres was increasing rapidly and India’s domestic fibre consumption ratio at present was 65:35 between natural fibres and man-made fibres.

However, it was the opposite with the rest of the world.

The Government’s decision will align domestic VSF prices with global prices will make the entire Indian VSF textile value chain globally competitive and help boost production and exports.

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