India imposes anti-dumping duty on various polyester yarn against China and Thailand
According to a feature in Yarns and Fibers, the Government of India, and on the recommendation of the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties have imposed anti-dumping duty on import of various polyester yarns from China and Thailand for a period of five years, effective from October 21, 2015. This measure has evoked mixed response from the textile sector of India
Government has imposed anti-dumping duty of USD 547 on every metric tonne of all fully-drawn or fully-oriented yarn, spin draw yarn and flat yarn of polyester. The ant-dumping duty applicable on imports from Jiangsu Hengli Chemical Fibre Co. Ltd. would be USD 256 per ton, while it would be USD 547 per ton for the specified yarn imported from any other Chinese company.
Likewise, the duty on imports from Indorama Polyester Industries Public Company Limited (formerly Indo Poly (Thailand) Ltd.) would be USD 57.78 per ton, while it would be USD 248.63 for import of specified yarn from all other Thai companies.
According to Chairman Vardhaman group, S P Oswal, the measure will not be beneficial for India’s garment manufacturers, as they have to compete with manufacturers from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and many other countries getting yarn at cheaper price from China and some other countries. This would ultimately hurt the international market of garment manufacturers in India, and thus impact their exports.
However, chairman Ludhiana Knitwear Club Vinod Thapar stated, that there is some bit of truth in the fact that garment manufacturers, especially those in the sector of t-shirts and shirts, will not be able to get cheaper yarn from China. The step would, at the same time, help manufacturers of yarn in India. He voices the opinion that that it is a good step and now government need also to concentrate on providing more support to the industry at other levels, in order that yarn manufacturers are able to compete with China.
Rajiv Garg, owner of Garg Acrylics stated that this would help filament yarn manufacturers, as filament yarn is used in t-shirts and sportswear and would definitely have an impact on manufacturers as well. But to make things really beneficial, government should be imposing anti-dumping duty on fabric imported in large quantity from China.
According to Kuntal Jain, Director of Duke group, the government has taken steps to help local industry and manufacturers. But it need to take more steps towards balancing the situation and providing a level playing field to all the sectors, such as providing some incentives for India’s manufacturers, especially to help them in cost cutting and enable to fight cheap goods from China.
On the other hand, President of Punjab Spinners Association, Madan Mohan Vyas is offering a neutral view, by stating that the anti-dumping duty was not going to show much impact straight away, as this yarn is used more in mink blankets and sportswear. At the same time, he did not deny that these measures have an impact on garment manufacturers. He further stresssed that things would change, if the government gives more support to manufacturers in addition to levying of anti-dumping duty, in order to strengthen its vision of ‘Make in India’. He added, that he was quite sure that the government would take some more steps and measures to help manufacturers take on international competitors.