Duty on PTA will make synthetic fabrics costly.

SURAT: Prices of synthetic fabrics manufactured in the country's biggest man-made fabric (MMF) hub here are set to increase by almost 15 per cent with the central government last week imposing anti-dumping duty on the import of purified teraphthalic acid (PTA) - a raw material to manufacture polyester filament yarn.

The MMF industry in the city contributes to 40 per cent of the nation's synthetic fabric demand by producing around 3 crore metres of fabric every day.

The anti-dumping duty will rein in production of downstream products such as polyester filament yarn, polyester staple fibre and synthetic textiles, industry sources said.

They said PTA imports in the country originate from China, European Union (EU), North Korea and Thailand. PTA is a raw material for the production of polyester chips which in turn are used to produce polyester filament yarn, polyester staple fibre and polyester film. To produce 1kg of polyester staple fibre 0.92kg of PTA is required and to produce 1kg of polyester chips 0.8583 kg of PTA is required.

Industry sources said domestic producers of PTA are acting in an unreasonable manner, which puts additional burden on the user industry. Their sole objective is to earn extra profits on the product by seeking imposition of anti-dumping duty. There is a demand supply mismatch, which according to latest estimates stands at 4,096,952 MT against 3,420,000 MT, they said.

Federation of Indian Art Silk Weaving Industry chairman Arun Jariwala said, "The small spinners in the domestic industry are left with no choice but to purchase PTA from big companies at high rates. The PTA imported from China and European Union is much cheaper. The levy of anti-dumping duty will lead to increase in the prices of polyester yarn and subsequent rise in the prices of synthetic fabrics like saris and dress material."

"We expect the yarn prices to go up by around 10 to 15 per cent in the coming days. Ultimately, the weavers will pass on the price rise to the traders," yarn dealer Rajesh Surana said.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com