Cut in anti-dumping duty on acrylic fibre import brings smiles on manufacturers’ faces

Ludhiana: Yarn manufacturers of city are in a jubilant mood as the central government has fulfilled their demand of reducing the anti-dumping duty on the import of Acrylic Fibre from Thailand. Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has now decided to impose anti-dumping duty of US$ 15.87 per MT on acrylic fibre exported from Thailand by Thai Acrylic Fibre Company Limited, which earlier was $162 per MT.
According to manufacturers, the development will give a boost to the textile sector as it had already been facing huge recession due to the high import duties on the import of acrylic fibre needed for manufacturing yarn. One of the biggest bodies of textile manufacturers, Northern Indian Textiles Mills Association (NITMA), has hailed this decision and claimed that this will give a level playing field to their industry, which was passing through very bad times.
Sanjay Garg, president of NITMA and MD of Longowalia Yarns Limited, said, “We heartily welcome the government decision of the significant reduction in the anti-dumping duty on imports of acrylic fibre originating from Thailand. The order for this has been released by the DGTR and the decision has now come into effect. This duty imposed had been on us for more than two decades due to which the manufacturers were having a very tough time. The decision was taken by DGTR upon the petition filed by three domestic fibre manufacturers. After the detailed investigation which was based on analysis of available sources of data and information based on submissions by various stakeholders, the DGTR has recommended that the continuation of the duty is required on imports of acrylic fibre from Thailand.”
Garg added that, “However, the authority also recommended imposition of anti-dumping duty equal to lesser margin of dumping and the margin of injury, so as to remove the injury to the domestic industry. Accordingly, the DGTR recommended imposing definitive anti-dumping duty US$ 15.87 per MT on acrylic fibre exported from Thailand by Thai Acrylic Fibre Company Limited for five years from the date of the notification to be issued by the government, which is August 31, 2020. This is a huge relief for the domestic user industry as the earlier duty charged was $162 per MT. With this reduced rate of duty the user industry can now move towards a competitive regime for acrylic fibre and strengthen and expand their scale of operations for higher production and growth in the downstream.”
Ravinder Verma, MD of Ganga Acrowools, said, “We are certain that this significantly reduced rate of anti-dumping duty will give a boost to the Indian acrylic textiles segment, particularly its downstream value added segments, a majority of which are in the unorganised sector, which have been affected due to the continued imposition of anti-dumping duty on its primary raw material, that is acrylic fibre for the last 23 years from one source or other. This development will be a great support for a large number of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) segments, which have been suffering for long and had been severely affected by the anti-dumping duties on its basic raw material.”
M M Vyas, president of Ludhiana Spinners Association, said, “Higher rate of anti-dumping duties has increased cost of yarn, which made our downstream value added industries non-competitive, leading to a grave situation and now we are unable to compete not only in the exports market but even our domestic market has been suffering. This decision will go a long way in accomplishing the Aatmnirbhar mission and also strengthen the overall growth of Indian textile industry in the future.”