Illegal Chinese silk yarn affect local variety sales

30 Dec '05

2 min read

The porous border between India and Nepal is proving to be a dumping route as illegal imports of Chinese tasar yarn floods India.

China, the world's largest producer of silk, produces the 'oak tasar' variety of tasar. China's annual silk output is pegged at over 55,000 tons which also includes nearly 9,000 tons of 'oak tasar'.

Traders are extremely vulnerable to silk imports. It is not merely mulberry silk which is being dumped into India but even tasar. Much of the illegal imports of Chinese tasar come into states like Jharkhand through the border route,” sources added.

India, which is the second largest producer of silk, produces five types of silks - mulberry, eri, muga, tasar and oak tasar.

The last four varieties of silk are collectively called as wild silk or Vanya silk. The bulk of the Indian silk output is of the mulberry type which accounts for over 90 percent of the country's production. Vanya silk output is less than 1,500 tons.

The Central Silk Board (CSB) has now initiated a programme to increase output of Vanya silk. Sources say that in many of the tasar strongholds in Jharkhand, an increasingly large number of weavers have begun relying on Chinese tasar.

“Imported Chinese tasar yarn is available at least 15-20 percent cheaper compared to its Indian variety. We find that an increasingly large number of weavers are patronising Chinese yarn,” sources added.

Incidentally some of the agencies associated with promotion of tasar in the tribal areas have now started focusing on more value-added products in an indication of how difficult yarn making has become in the light of the Chinese deluge.

The scene has now shifted to the commerce ministry which has been petitioned to levy an anti-dumping duty on Chinese yarn.

The Economics Times

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