SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
COIMBATORE, MARCH 18, 202
The Southern India Mills’ Association has appealed to the Central Government to immediately remove the 10% import duty on cotton and anti-dumping duty on Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF). Ashwin Chandran, chairman of the association, said in a press release viscose fibre imports attract 0.103 $ to $ 0.512 a kg anti-dumping duty.
The recent budget introduced 10% import duty on cotton. “This has greatly impacted the supply chain of both domestic and international markets and also spiralled domestic Indian ELS, organic and contamination free cotton prices that are already under acute shortage,” he said.
Mr. Chandran said that both the high value added market segments account around Rs.1.5 lakh crore business size and employ over two million people. The value chain of VSF and superfine cotton cater to international brands that have retail presence in the domestic market too. The capacity utilisation of the spinning and powerloom clusters in Erode alone has been affected to the tune of 30%. The price crisis is used as an opportunity by neighbouring countries such as Bangladesh. And, the threat of imports looms large.
The industry is facing acute shortage of VSF fibre and there is no question of dumping and causing injury to the domestic market. For cotton, India is mainly dependent on the American PIMA and Egyptian GIZA and other ELS cotton for the domestic and international markets apart from the home grown DCH cotton. The textile industry has been mixing the imported cotton with the indigenous cotton, as the availability of Indian cotton is not even 20%.
Mr. Chandran pointed out that the DCH cotton was costing around Rs.52,000 a candy of 355 kg in October last year and Rs.65,000 in January 2021. It increased to Rs.73,000 after the levy of 10% duty. (Source: The Hindu)