The Indian manmade fiber industry wants a duty levied on Chinese imports. The industry says Chinese exporters are undervaluing their manmade fiber merchandise and dumping cheap synthetic fibers in the Indian market. They say Chinese exporters are resorting to undervaluation of fabrics as they get duty benefits from the Chinese government. It says India should seek an explanation from China on the subsidies and hopes that a customs duty will be imposed on the landed price after factoring the subsidies given back home. Imports of fibers, yarns and value added products, the industry says, must be discouraged and the import of synthetic fabric should be restricted to actual users.

The total installed capacity of synthetic fiber in India is five million tons while China has a surplus of nine million tons. It’s felt that due to the slowdown in China, the country has been dumping the surplus into India on the back of subsidies offered by the government.

Indian imports of synthetic textile from China in 2015-16 stood at $800 million dollars, mainly due to the surplus capacity with China. More than 50 million tons of manmade fibers are produced every year. China is the leading pacesetter in the manmade fiber industry.