Surat: There is some good news for textile manufacturers in the country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) hub in Surat, facing onslaught of imported undervalued Chinese fabrics.

Central government is in the process of imposing anti-subsidy duty on import of fabrics from China, which is intended to make the prices of domestic fabric manufactured by the MMF sector competitive.

Synthetic & Rayon Textile Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) chairman Anil Rajvanshi said this during his visit to the Diamond City for the exhibitors’ roadshow for the upcoming global buyer-sellers meet for man-made fibres and textile on Saturday.

This country specific duty, also known as a countervailing duty, on imports is imposed to nullify subsidies provided by other nations and is intended to make prices of domestic products competitive. Importing countries also have other options, such as introducing an anti-dumping duty, to make domestic prices at par. The inquiry by India has been initiated under the supervision of directorate deneral of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties, an arm of the ministry of commerce and industry.

“The government has started an anti-subsidy investigation for MMF fabric from China, which has been flagged by the industry,” said Rajvanshi

He said import of Chinese fabrics in India is pegged at about 7 per cent of the total volume of fabrics manufactured in India. The fabric is imported by undervaluing the prices in the range of Rs 6 to Rs 8 per metre.

He said, “We have filed anti-subsidy application. Representatives from the government will visit companies in Surat to get the cost data of the production. Thus, we expect that the Chinese fabric imports will attract around 25 per cent anti-subsidy duty.”