Ec To Impose Dumping Duty On Indian Cloth Exports

The Commission has decided to go ahead and impose provisional anti-dumping duties on exports of cotton unbleached fabric even though a majority of European countries are against the action.

The provisional anti-dumping duties are likely to come into force from early November. More than 130 Indian companies export cotton unbleached fabric worth around Rs 600 crore to the European Union.

Unofficial estimates are that the anti-dumping duties will range from between 17 per cent to 27 per cent. This could put many Indian textile exporters out of business.

Unbleached cotton fabrics are one of the biggest exports to Europe from India.

 

The European Commission decided that an anti-dumping investigation conducted earlier this year and proved that India companies were guilty of dumping cotton unbleached fabric into Europe. It also held that this had caused substantial damage to European companies.

On the basis of these findings, the Commission decided to go ahead with the imposition of duties even though most European countries had voted against the move. At a meeting of the anti-dumping advisory committee in September, a majority of European countries had voted against imposing anti-dumping duties on India. Ten countries had finally opposed the move. However, the recommendations of the advisory committee are not binding.