LAHORE, Sept 16: The All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) hopes to finalise and file its submission, rebutting the charges against foreign suppliers of synthetic fibre, with the NTC in the next 10-15 days.

The association has already been recognised by the National Tariff Commission as an interested party in the investigation against the alleged dumping of polyester staple fibre (PSF) by nine companies from three South East Asian nations.

A leading textile spinner, who asked not to be named, told Dawn on Saturday that some Aptma members were also considering the option to move the courts to what he described as test the validity and legality of the Antidumping Duty Ordinance, 2000.

However, he said, majority Aptma members were more in favour of defending the import of PSF and their foreign suppliers rather than going to the courts challenging the law.

The NTC initiated antidumping investigation against nine suppliers of PSF from Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia on August 9 on an application received in June this year from three local producers of synthetic fibre.

In its notice of initiation of antidumping investigation, the NTC said “in terms of Section 23 of the Ordinance, the commission has examined the adequacy and accuracy of the information provided in the application and is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to justify initiation of investigation”.

The investigation will determine whether PSF originating in and/or exported from the three exporting countries is being dumped into Pakistan and whether such dumping has caused and/or is causing material injury to the local industry.

The investigation of dumping will cover the period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006 and of injury to the local producers from April 1, 2003 to March 31, 2006. The final determination of the investigation may take between eight to 12 months under the law.

The government may be recommended to levy 10 per cent antidumping duty on the import of PSF from Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand if the local producers succeed in substantiating the charges of dumping against the suppliers from there.

An Aptma official claimed that no country ever imposed antidumping duty on a product(s)/item(s) imported for the purpose of re-export if it followed best international practices.

He said the lodging of antidumping charges against the foreign suppliers of PSF was “against the national interest because imposition of the duty would increase the cost of production and make the textile exports uncompetitive”.

He contended that the local PSF producers had long been active for securing more protection against imports, and already succeeded in making the government remove the import of PSF and other synthetic fibre from the Duty & Tax Remission for Export (DTRE) scheme and impose 6.5 per cent un-refundable duty on imported fibre in the budget for the current fiscal year.

“Now they (domestic PSF producers) are trying to get 10 per cent antidumping duty imposed on PSF from the three South East countries. The levy of antidumping duty will further increase the cost of our blended yarn by 10 per cent,” another leading PSF yarn exporter said.

“The accumulated impact of customs duty and antidumping duty on Pakistan’s PSF products will be 16.5 per cent, meaning thereby that we shall be as much costlier than our competitors. Who will come to us in such a situation?” he wondered. He said the government must directly support the domestic manmade fibre producers if they were making losses. “Why the textile industry is being punished for none of its faults?” he asked.

“Blended yarn exporters have been importing around 13,200-18,000 tons of PSF and other manmade fibre of various specifications per annum for making products for export, which is around 2.5-3 per cent of the total local production.

Thus, it is incorrect to claim that import of PSF is causing any injury to the local producers of PSF and other fibre,” the Aptma official said.

Another 42,000-48,000 tons of PSF and other synthetic fibre are imported for local consumption. Pakistan’s blended yarn exports stand at $100 million a year.