The Holding Company for Spinning and Weaving drafted a memo calling for the imposition of dumping duties on imports of yarn. The memo will be submitted to Minister of Trade and Industry Samir al-Sayyad. Mohsen al-Geelani, head of the company, said yarn imported from Syria, India and Pakistan is cheaper than local produce. This has led to dumping, which harms local textile factories. Geelani told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the average price of local yarn ranges between US$4.8 and US$5.5 per kilo. However, imported yarn prices range between US$3.5 and US$4.5 per kilo. Mohamed al-Morshedi, head of the textile industries chamber, said dumping charges for imported yarn would complicate the problem, especially as textile factories import 50 percent of required materials due production failing to cover local market needs. Morshedi added that the company did not have the memo reviewed by the chamber, despite being a member. He also said that imposing dumping duties on fabrics and ready-made clothes would be better than imposing them on production inputs. Yarn prices, according to Morshedi, have soared. Moreover, textile factories cut production due to spread of smuggled fabrics and clothes, which hampered the factories from selling its production or either raising the prices to make up for the international prices increase. Translated from the Arabic Edition
