‘Remove anti-dumping duty on viscose fibre’

Coimbatore: Representatives of the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) and the Southern India Mills Association (Sima) requested the ministries of textile, commerce, and finance to remove anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre (VSF).

While anti-dumping duty on purified terephthalic acid (PTA), a raw material for polyester, was removed in the previous budget, that on VSF still continues and because of this, the entire value chain is struggling to compete in the global market, said ITF convenor Prabhu Dhamodharan.

The import of VSF spun yarn in 2016-2017 was 2,022 tonnes and it went up to 56,262 tonnes in 2019-20. China has been dumping yarn here and the landing cost of Chinese yarn is cheaper by Rs 20 per kilogram than Indian spinners’ manufacturing cost. Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia have gained exponential share in the global man-made fibre-based textile and clothing exports as they have access to fibre at international prices, which make them competitive even without having their own source of raw material, ITF said.

“If anti-dumping duty on VSF is removed, Indian spinners will have access to the fibre at international prices, which will be competitive for the Indian spinners to match yarn imports. The benefits would then flow to the entire value chain including MSME weaving sector.”

“Removing the anti-dumping duty on VSF will make domestic VSF prices aligned with global prices, making the entire Indian VSF textile value chain globally competitive and boost production and exports of the products,” said Sima chairman Ashwin Chandran.

VSF attracts anti-dumping duty of $0.103 to $0.512/kg even from countries like Indonesia. Due to this, viscose fibre prices in India are much higher than international prices with a difference of around Rs 20 to Rs 23/kg.