Along with major trade bodies like CITI and SGCCI, The Northern India Textile Mills’ Association (NITMA) met officials from the Ministry of Textiles and Chemicals to register their intense opposition against the recommended anti-dumping duty (ADD) on Mono Ehtylene Glycol (MEG), warning the government it would deliver a ‘castatrophic blow to the sector. NITMA cautioned , the duty would devastate the predominantly MSME-based downstream industry, jeopardizing millions of jobs and freezing critical investments.
The industry's primary fear is the massive cost escalation the ADD would cause. The proposed duty is estimated to raise MEG costs by an additional 20 per cent.
This hike will practically force MMF units across India to shut down, stated NITMA. The industry is in such a state of shock and panic that unit owners are ready to hand over the keys to their factories, as they cannot sustain this devastating blow, it added.
The downstream sector is already struggling with uncompetitive raw material prices. Before the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) quality control order, domestic polyester staple fiber (PSF) was already 15–20 per cent pricier than what global competitors, such as those in China, paid. The BIS order has since allowed domestic fiber producers to charge a premium of Rs 6–Rs 7 per kg over imported parity. Imposing the ADD on MEG would widen this uncompetitive gap even further, to approximately Rs 10–Rs 11 per kg, severely crippling MSME units.
The associations have called on the government to reject the DGTR recommendation immediately to safeguard the future of the Indian MMF sector.
