The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) in the Commerce Ministry has recommended the withdrawal of the existing anti-dumping duty (ADD) on certain viscose staple fibre (VSF) from China and Indonesia.
This recommendation has to be now implemented by the revenue department in the Finance Ministry.
In its final findings on the sunset review investigations, the DGTR concluded that there is no justification for recommending the continuation of anti-dumping in the present case.
It also noted that the domestic industry enjoys a dominant position in the Indian market, and the market share of imports from Indonesia and China is very low. Therefore, the imports cannot be causing any price and volume effect on the domestic industry, the DGTR said.
While there is a likelihood of continuous dumping from these countries, the possibility of recurrence of injury to the domestic industry is not strong enough to warrant the continuation of duties beyond 11 years.
DGTR has therefore recommended the withdrawal of definitive anti-dumping duty recommended by it in July 2016 and enforced by the Finance Ministry in August 2016 for five years. On 30 June this year, the revenue department had extended the validity of this duty till 31 October.
It is pertinent to mention here that the sunset review investigations were initiated by DGTR in February this year.
On behalf of Grasim Industries, the Association of Man-Made Fibre Industry of India had filed the petition seeking initiation of sunset review investigation on certain VSF imports from China and Indonesia.
Owing to the growing demand for VSF and its blended textiles across the globe, and the high price of domestic spun yarn, the availability and price were affecting the entire VSF value chain in the country, especially the knitted and powerloom sectors. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat are major VSF powerloom clusters.
Industry is happy with this decision as it will give a fillip to the manmade fibre (MMF) sector.
Removal of anti dumping on PTA last year followed by Viscose Staple Fibre yesterday paves way for a competitive raw materials in Manmade Fibres for India – will see a growth of exports & reduction of imports of MMF Textiles. Special thanks to @smritiirani @PiyushGoyal
— Sanjay K Jain (@TTsanjayjain) August 2, 2021
Welcoming the Government’s decision, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman Dr. A. Sakthivel has said that it will prove to be a key milestone in India’s apparel history.
“The decision will help the MMF sector finally take off. Amazing future awaits the Indian apparel sector,” Dr. Sakthivel said.
In January 2021, AEPC along with other organisations in the VSF value chain had appealed to the Prime Minister for the removal of ADD on VSF to address the VSF spun yarn availability and price issues in order to prevent job losses and stoppage of production across the VSF textile value chain.
“The decision will help the MMF segment, which industry and Government have identified as the sunrise sector for increasing the share of India in global apparel trade. With quality fabric at the right price in place, it will finally give wings to the proposed Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the MMF segment.
The removal of protectionist tariffs on VSF will make the domestic VSF prices align with the global VSF prices making the entire Indian VSF textile value chain globally competitive. It will boost production and exports of these products,” Dr. Sakthivel said.
