Textile mill seeks yarn anti-dumping duty

A memo to impose dumping duties on yarn imports has been drafted by a big textile mill. This memo would be handed over to Minister of Trade and Industry Samir al-Sayyad.

Yarn imported from countries like India, Syria and Pakistan costs much less than domestically produced yarn, which has resulted in dumping, and is damaging the domestic textile firms.

The domestically produced yarn costs almost around US$4.8 to US$5.5 per kg, but as against this the imported yarn costs around US$3.5 to US$4.5 per kg.

However, the Textiles Industries Chamber apprehends that, owing to low domestic production capacity, as the textile units import around 50 percent of their material requirement, levy of such duty would complicate the issue.

Also, no efforts have been made to get the memo reviewed by the Chamber.

Experts opine that, rather than subjecting yarn, a production input to dumping duty; it would be a better to levy dumping duties on fabrics and readymade garments.

According to the industry experts, yarn prices have already gone up, while the textile units are also scaling down their production due to invasion of smuggled fabrics and garments, which are impeding these units from selling their products, or from increasing prices in lines with world prices.