Anti-dumping duty on viscose yarn up, weavers cry foul (India)

Powerloom weavers and yarn importers in Surat, which houses the country's biggest man-made fibre industry, are unhappy with the Union finance ministry imposing anti-dumping duty on the import of viscose filament yarn from China.

The ministry has revised the anti-dumping duty of 16.90 per cent on the imported viscose filament yarn originating from the China for the next years through the notification dated May 4.

Surat's industry contributes 40 per cent of the man-made fabric demand in the country and houses about six lakh weaving machines, out of which 1.5 lakh use viscose filament yarn as their main raw material.

The imported yarn costs Rs 350 per kilogram. With the anti-dumping duty, the yarn will cost Rs 400 to the powerloom weavers.

Federation of Gujarat Weavers Association (FOGWA) office-bearers said that there is a huge difference in quality and price between the yarn manufactured by the domestic companies and those in China. The imported yarn is much better, both quality and price-wise.

The duty will monopolize the whole viscose filament yarn market and create huge loss and burden to the downstream industries besides increasing unemployment. The small players who run 15 to 20 powerloom machines in the city will be hit hard. They operate on a wafer-thin margin and the increase in the yarn prices will increase the cost of production. They will have no other option but to decrease the production, thereby cutting down the jobs of the textile workers.

"The domestic consumption of viscose filament yarn in the industry is about 1,000 tonne per month of which nearly half is imported from China," said Sanjay Agarwala, a yarn importer.