With 13 categories of knitted fabrics brought under Minimum Import Price (MIP) till December 31, the textile sector is hopeful of the domestic industry improving its capacity utilisation.
Prabhu Dhamodharan, convenor of the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), said China is facing a downturn in domestic demand for the last two years and hence there is a surge in dumping of Chinese goods in the international markets. By bringing majority of knitted fabric categories under MIP, cheap imports from China is expected to reduce.
According to a notification issued on Tuesday (October 1, 2024), synthetic, manmade fibre, and cotton knitted fabrics under 13 HS codes are now in the prohibited list of imports. “The imports will, however, be free if the value of the fabric is $3.5 per kg or more,” it said.
Industry sources said the Government introduced MIP on five categories of knitted fabrics earlier this year. It is extended till December 31 for these categories and eight more categories are added based on representations from trade and industry. This will bring down cheap import of fabrics, especially from China, they said.
The textile and garment industry bodies such as the Tiruppur Exporters’ Association have welcomed the move. The ITF said imposition of MIP during the end of FY 2024 on certain HS codes reduced imports in the knitted fabrics sector from almost $ 30 million in February this year to $ 17 million in July.
However, the imports in some other HS codes jumped from $30 million to $57 million. Extension of the MIP to totally 13 categories of knitted fabrics will benefit stakeholders across the value chain and improve domestic capacity utilisation as there is a level-playing field now, it said.
Published - October 02, 2024 11:47 am IST
