The effort of India to control imports of silk from China went in vain, in spite imposing anti-dumping duty on both raw silk and silk fabric. The country imported silk items like raw silk, silk yarn and fabric worth Rs 1,713 crore in 2008-09, up from Rs 1,597 crore in the previous year. In value terms, raw silk imports increased to Rs 900 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 734 crore a year ago.
India imported silk yarn and fabrics worth Rs 812 crore primarily from China during 2008-09. In terms of volume, India's total raw silk imports increased to 8,369 tonne in 2008-09 from 7,922 tonne( in previous year), among which 8,297 tonne was imported from China, up from 7,840 tonne in the previous year.
Apart from China, other countries which are on the list for importing ( in small amount) are Uzbekistan, Brazil, Hong Kong, Vietnam and a few other countries.
India could not restrict the import from china as the gap between domestic silk production and demand for silk-based products is huge. The same has made the country highly dependent on China.
H Hanumanthappa, Chairman of the state-owned Central Silk Board (CSB), an apex body the Indian silk industry pointed out that the Government had imposed an anti-dumping duty on Chinese raw silk for five years--from 2003 to 2008--to safeguard the interest of domestic sericulture farmers and weavers. The anti-dumping duty was imposed on the basis of landing price of $27 per kg till January 2008. The Government has further extended the anti-dumping for five years from 2009 by increasing the slab to $37 per kg with the intervention of the CSB and other industry players.
Anti-dumping duty on silk fabric was also imposed for five years from 2006. The Chairman of CSB also pointerd out that the India is lacking around 8,000-9,000 tonne, and depends on China to meet its demand.
China is utilizing the above opportunity and is dumping silk items in India at cheaper cost with an aim to force local silk farmers to sell their products even lower than the cost.
Indian Silk exporters have protested saying that the government's anti-dumping duty has hit back badly on local silk weavers and exporters. Because of the duty, prices of raw silk, main raw material for any silk product, have currently increased to $32- $37 in domestic market from $12-$13 in 2003.
The textile ministry had set an aim to export silk items worth Rs 3,970 crore during 2008-09 against Rs 2,727 crore during 2007-08. Experts pointed out that in order to solve the crisis; India has to be self-dependent by increasing silk production.
Source : The Financial Express