India : Extension of anti dumping duty on raw silk

The Central Government had imposed an anti dumping duty on mulberry raw silk imports from China, on July 10, 2003 for a period of 5 years. This has come up for a review, and is now extended till the end of this year.
The Centre had fixed a basic price of US $27.98 a kilogram for importing of mulberry raw silk. Anti dumping duty was supposed to be imposed on the difference in the import value and the base price. The Central silk board and other states which have substantial silk farming like Karnataka, Tamilnadu and West Bengal, have urged the Government to reimpose the anti dumping duty by another 5 years in the interests of the silk farmers of the country.
Regardless of the anti dumping duty, imports have surged ahead. It was more than double in the first quarter of this financial year though they fell in the last year. In arriving at the decision taken by the Centre in 2003, it was found that imports were higher than the consumption in India and import prices were also much lower than quoted in the Indian market. This led to a closure of a lot of silk units as they could not match the import prices.
China has been urging the Indian Government to lift the anti dumping duty since a long time as India is the biggest market for silk for the country accounting for nearly 30 percent of its silk exports.