In a pre-Budget submission to the finance
ministry, the All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) has said the levy
of duties has made the raw materials expensive in comparison to imported
finished products. High interest cost and energy rates had led to many of the
SME units shut down their operations. Hence, the industry has called for the
removal anti-dumping duties on import of raw materials like rubber chemicals
and carbon black. It also demanded an immediate import of 1 lakh tonnes of natural
rubber to bridge the supply-demand gap, as the consumption of natural and
synthetic rubber is constantly increasing as against production.
The rubber products are being imported into
the country at normal rate of duty without any anti-dumping provision. With
over 15,000 rubber products, it is difficult to prove the dumping charges and
most of the manufacturers are in the small scale category that does not have
the resources to initiate the anti-dumping procedures as per law, said Vinod
Simon, president of AIRIA.
According to AIRIA, the import of even those
raw materials which are not indigenously produced is subjected to high rate of
custom duty, making it difficult for the rubber industry to survive and to
compete against import of finished products. The association has asked for
waiver of customs duty on raw materials not manufactured domestically like
butyl rubber, SBR grade 1500/1700 and other hi-tech synthetic rubbers, EPDM and
polyester tyre cord.
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lot more in the latest issue of Rubber4U
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