Removal of anti-dumping duty on PTA to help man-made fibre industry

The removal of anti-dumping duty on Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA), a key raw material for textile industry, will help in promoting the growth of man-made fibre companies, an official said.

The government in Budget had announced revoking anti-dumping duty on import of this chemical from seven countries, including South Korea and Thailand.

The official said that the country's man-made fibre (MMF) base needs to grow at a healthy rate in order to cater to domestic and overseas textiles markets.

To enable the textile sector to grow from its current market size of USD 110 billion (about Rs 7.81 lakh crore) to about USD 200 billion (about Rs 14.20 lakh crore) by 2025, fibre production in the country has to grow from the current level of 8 billion kg to about 16 billion kg in the coming years.

"This growth has to come largely from the MMF segment since cotton has a limited capacity to grow given various constraints," the official added.

Scarcity of water in states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and uprooting of cotton plants by farmers without waiting for third/fourth round of pickings have been reasons for lower output.

The PTA users association had demanded from the government that the anti-dumping duty on PTA be revoked in the overall interest of promoting the growth of MMF industry.

The industry also asked for significant reduction of import duty on the chemical.

In July 2019, the finance ministry had imposed anti-dumping duty of up to USD 78.28 per tonne on the chemical from South Korea and Thailand.

Earlier in July 2016, the ministry had slapped duty of up to USD 168.76 per tonne on the chemical from China, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Hailing the move, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel has said that abolishing the duty will give the much needed boost to the entire textile and apparel value chain.