Textile industry asks govt to axe anti-dumping duty on viscose staple fibre

NCTC said the textile industry has been facing stagnation since many years due to a lack of availability of the basic raw materials of man-made fibre / filament yarn at competitive prices

The National Committee on Textiles & Clothing (NCTC) has requested the government to remove anti-dumping duty (ADD) on Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF) and address the VSF spun yarn availability and price issues to prevent job losses and stoppage of production across the VSF textile value chain.
 

NCTC said that the textile industry has been facing stagnation since many years due to a lack of availability of the basic raw materials of man-made fibre / filament yarn at internationally competitive prices.
 

Taking a serious view of the high price of VSF in India, the captains of the various segments of VSF value chain, viz  Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), Indian Spinners Association (ISA) and Powerloom Development Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL) under the common platform of NCTC have unanimously submitted a joint representation to the prime minister for the removal of ADD on the import of VSF to achieve global competitiveness and achieve the target of $350 billion by 2025 set by the Ministry of Textiles for the textiles and apparel sector. They have also requested the union minister of textiles and secretary, textiles to support the textile industry in this regard.
 

NCTC observed that “Owing to the growing demand for VSF and its blended textiles and clothing market opportunities, the demand for VSF has increased steeply not only in India, but also across the globe."
 

NCTC noted, as the imported yarn price was cheaper due to high ADD prevailing on the domestic viscose staple fibre, the weaving and knitting sectors have been importing large volumes of VSF spun yarn.
 

The import of VSF spun yarn increased from 2 million kgs during 2016-17 to 56 million kgs during 2019-20.
 

VSF price has increased from $1.15 to $1.50 per kg during the last few months.  As the domestic VSF price was expensive due to ADD (upto $ 0.512 per kg), the demand for domestic spun yarn fell leading to the availability and price affecting the entire VSF value chain, especially the knitted and powerloom sectors.
 

All the major VSF powerloom clusters in states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, etc are agitating against the steep increase in VSF prices.
 

Against this backdrop, NCTC has appealed to the prime minister to remove the ADD levied on VSF on a war footing to address the burning issue, grab emerging market opportunities and to protect the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of workers employed in the VSF textile value chain. This is the second appeal to the prime minister, in this regard.
 

The VSF value chain industry players have said, removing ADD on VSF will bring the domestic VSF prices in line with the global VSF prices making the entire Indian VSF textile value chain globally competitive and boost production and exports of these products.