Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF) has appealed to Union textile, commerce and finance ministries to remove antidumping duty on viscose fiber. The federation says, this will create a level playing field for the entire viscose value chain and help a big section of MSMEs in their growth. In post-COVID environment, world’s largest consuming markets like the US are favoring India as a preferred alternate destination for textile and apparel sourcing. In addition, many countries like Vietnam are also looking to source more fabrics from India. Hence, Indian companies need to focus on these products to increase the country’s exports, says ITF.

Presently, polyester fibers are available in India at international prices due to structural changes brought out in previous budget that removed anti-dumping duty on PTA. However, due to anti-dumping duty protection at fiber stage, viscose fiber prices in India are much higher than international prices with a difference of around Rs 20 to 23 per kg. Moreover, Indian spinners also face huge injury due to multi-fold jump in cheap Chinese yarn imports. The import of VSF spun yarn increased to 56,262 tonne in 2019-20 due to the import of cheaper Chinese yarn in the market.

Countries like Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia have gained exponential share in the global MMF based textile and clothing exports, as these countries have access to fiber at international prices, which makes them competitive globally even without having their own source of raw material.