close
Friday March 29, 2024

Textile mills mull filing Indian dumping complaint

KARACHI: Textile manufacturers are set to file an anti-dumping complaint against Indian cotton and cotton-yarn imports with National Tariff Commission (NCT), an industry official said on Tuesday. “We are all set to file an anti-dumping case against Indian traders with the National Tariff Commission (NTC),” said SM Tanveer, chairman of

By Salman Siddiqui
January 28, 2015
KARACHI: Textile manufacturers are set to file an anti-dumping complaint against Indian cotton and cotton-yarn imports with National Tariff Commission (NCT), an industry official said on Tuesday.
“We are all set to file an anti-dumping case against Indian traders with the National Tariff Commission (NTC),” said SM Tanveer, chairman of All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA). “We have hired an Islamabad-based advocate Saifullah Khan.”
Industry official said yarn import from India rose by more than 100 percent to 26,000 tonnes in the last one year.
“This is an abnormal growth...this is simply dumping,” Tanveer said.
The Aptma is preparing documents related to filing of anti-dumping case with the NTC. “The documentation process may take three to four months,” he added.
At present, customs department slaps five percent duty on imported commodities.
The textile leader said the government is not increasing duty on imported yarn because the country is signatory to the South Asian Free Trade Area, which bounds member countries to freeze import duties.
“However, this is not working and the government should revise the duty up to 15 percent to support the local industry,” said Taqi Abbas, a broker at Karachi Cotton Exchange.
Abbas said continued import of low-priced Indian cotton and cotton-yarn has weakened the interest of textile mill owners in the locally grown cotton. “The sluggish demand dragged the price of the commodity to three-year low.”
Tanveer agreed that despite the current duty, Indian products remain competitive in the local market.
On the contrary, if traders in India import cotton yarn from Pakistan, they need to pay 30 percent duty. “It’s discriminatory...we don’t have a level playing field,” he added.
Tanveer said the traders are importing cotton because of the shortage. Demand for cotton in the country stands at 17 to 17.5 million bales. The country is estimated to produce only 14 million bales this year.
Cotton broker Abbas said the country is set to produce bumper crop at around 15 million bales this year.
He said textile mill owners, who are short of cash and running production operations on day-to-day basis, are buying cotton from local market.
The Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) reported traders bought a total of 3,900 bales at Rs4,100 to Rs4,800/maund as compared to 3,600 bales bought at Rs4,125 to Rs5,050/maund a day ago. KCA has revised down its official rate for cotton by Rs100/maund to Rs4,650/ maund.