Silk industry demands hike in fabric import duty

The budget of the Union of India, announced last month, the import duty on raw silk (not thrown) fell from 30 percent to just 5 percent.
But the silk trade is demanding that in order to ensure that the fruit of the fall of the rate hits the silk sector, including weavers, import duty on silk fabrics increased from 10 percent to 40 percent.
This was repeated by Mr. Narendra Kapoor, former president of the UP Exporters Association (SEPA) and Mr. Jagdish Das, president of Banarasi Vastra Udyog Sangh (BVUS) when fibre2fashion contact them for their reactions.
Speaking to fibre2fashion, Mr Kapoor said: "In 2005, about 400,000 meters of silk fabric imported, has increased fourfold to about 1.6 million meters. This has mainly affected the manufacturing centers silk as Varanasi, Bangalore, Surat and other places in India.
He added: "Overall the quality of 60 g of silk imported from China, which is consumed by a silk thread about 85 grams. Thus, approximately 35,000 tons of silk thread is consumed to produce 1.6 million meters of fabrics. "
"If this is discouraged imports, the Chinese have spun surplus in hand, which ultimately lead to falling prices of silk, which have increased nicely in recent times. For this reason, we are demanding increased import duties on silk, "he said.
Mr. Jagdish Das praised the reduction of import duty on raw silk. He said: "It's been a long pending demand of the silk industry in India, who was protesting the inverted duty structure, where the 30 percent tax was levied on raw silk and only 10 cent silk. "
He noted saying, "Chinese raw silk prices rose from just 1,750 rupees per kg in August 2010 to a whopping 3,300 rupees per kg in December 2010, an impressive increase of 88 percent in just five months."
The Sangh also voracious in its demand that the customs duty on silk fabrics increased from 10 percent to 40 percent. The agency has been pushing for a long time to dismantle the tax structure from top to bottom.

(Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/textile-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=96995)