Textile industry appeals against anti-dumping duty on MEG

The textile industry appealed to the government not to do dumping duties on mono ethylene glycol (MEG), which is one of the main raw materials used in the production of polyester fibers and filaments.

RK Vij, general secretary of the Polyster Textile Progressible Industry Association, told Hindu The textile industry consumed the primary raw materials purified for the production of polyester fibers and consumed 70% -75% of the Meg.

The annual requirement of the meg is 28 lakh tonnes and is imported from Singapore, Qatar and Saudi Arabia around 1.2 million tonnes. The industry cannot import meg from China due to quality control order sanctions.

He said, “One of the important raw materials of man-made fiber, yarn, filament, clothes and clothing is going to be 20% more expensive due to the proposed implementation of anti-dumping duty (add),” he said.

India imports 40% of the meg consumed by domestic manufacturers. In addition, there is no project in the pipeline for the next three to four years to increase the production of meg in the country. The government removed the ADD on PTA in the 2020 Union Budget to ensure availability of raw materials at international prices for domestic MMF industry. It should not apply the ad on this meg.

The government recently reduced GST on MMF yarn and clothes, so that the production of MMF clothes could be emphasized. If anti-dumping duty is imposed on MEG, MMF sector will not be seen as raw materials will become expensive for the production of synthetic products, he said.

Ashwin Chandran, president of the Confederation of the Indian Textiles Industry and Durai Palanisamy, president of the Southern India Mills Association, said the polyester fibers are mainly made from PTA and Meg. Raw materials should be available at international prices for the textile industry.

The industry has expected meetings with textiles, finance and chemical ministries soon to discuss the issue, Mr. Vij said.