Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) has urged the Union government to expedite clearance of import consignments from China as undue delay is impacting their operations and might result in further financial losses. AEPC has complained that all import consignments are held up at Mumbai airports and seaports for a100 per cent open examination by Customs who are not processing the documents for shipments originated from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

While there has been no official instruction on 100 per cent checking of consignments coming from China, Chennai and some other ports began closer scrutiny of Chinese imports a few days ago. The apparel industry is dependent for several inputs that are domestically not available or as per buyers’ nomination has to be imported.

So far, such imports were subject to random and partial checks only, the Council says and emphasized that special priority should be given to manufacturer exporters who are dependent on these imports to service their export orders.