India has witnessed a surge of synthetic textile products imports from China after imposing an anti-dumping duty on a key raw material Purified terephtalic acid (PTA) which is used for making synthetic textile fibre, said Chemicals and Petrochemicals Manufacturers Association on Friday.

India imposed anti-dumping duties in the range of $19.05-117.09 a tonne on purified terephtalic acid from China, Korea, the European Union and Thailand. This was after a plea by Reliance Industries Ltd and Mitsubishi’s MCC PTA India Corporation.

According to CPMA, after the anti-dumping duty was levied on the raw material, the finished good synthetic textiles are being imported in large volumes from China.

Imports of polyester staple fibre more than tripled to 16,785 tonnes in July-August this year, compared with 4,441 tonnes a year before. Similarly, purchases of PFY from overseas more than doubled to 8,965 tonnes in the last two months from a year earlier.

China is becoming more aggressive now since its domestic demand is stagnant.

China also intends to finish off competition from Indian domestic producers in the case of raw materials used for synthetic textiles so that Chinese producers can dictate terms later.

The CPMA has also written to Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Commerce, to apprise her that sharp surge in import of Chinese synthetic textile items and raw materials is posing a major risk to Indian synthetic textile industry.