ISLAMABAD, March 29: The government of Peru has imposed 34.66 per cent anti-dumping duty on Pakistan's fabrics. Well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday that the Peru government on the complaint of Peru Pima Sa - a textile company - initiated an anti-dumping case on July 26, 2002 against five Pakistani exporters, alleging that they were dumping fabrics in Peruvian markets.

With the initial findings they have collected, the sources said, the Peruvian government had imposed a provisional duty of 33 per cent on Pakistan's fabrics on October 12, 2003. And finally Peru notified 34.66 per cent anti-dumping duty on Pakistan's fabrics on March 6, 2004.

According to the sources, all reports in Peru were in Spanish language, which again created a problem for the exporters to communicate their version to the Peruvian government well in time. The exporters were bound to file their appeal by March 29, 2004. However, the sources said that they did not file appeal to challenge the decision of Peru.

The sources said that the commerce ministry should now consult all the exporters against the dumping duty to fight the case at the WTO Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) because Peru had not conducted the investigation according to WTO provision and laws.

They said that during the investigation process, Peru had taken the strange stance by declaring Pakistan as non-market economy, which had further aggravated the case and then it prolonged the case for one year to prove them that Pakistan was a market economy.

The sources said on the insistence of the government of Pakistan, they finally accepted that Pakistan has a market economy. The affected parties felt that Peru might not have correctly applied all WTO provisions while levying anti-dumping on Pakistan's fabrics.

The sources said that even though the export quantity of fabrics was not that much to Peru which might affect Pakistan's total exports, Islamabad should send strong signal to all WTO-member countries who used anti-dumping as a weapon against Pakistan.

"This may affect not only our image, but also total exports. Pakistan must take these matters seriously and should not hesitate to take up these matters in the WTO to provide protection to our manufacturers and exporters."

Some of the recent anti-dumping duties against Pakistan includes: 13.1 per cent by the European Union on bedlinen; 29 per cent on matches by Egypt; and now the third case of 34.66 per cent on fabrics by Peru.