India Initiates Safeguard Investigation Concerning Imports of Elastomeric Filament Yarn

The Directorate General of Safeguards, Customs and Central Excise, Government of India, has initiated safeguard investigation concerning imports of bare elastomeric filament yarn, commonly known as spandex, into India.

In its notice, the Directorate said that an application has been filed under Rule 5 of the Customs Tariff (Identification and Assessment of Safeguard Duty) Rules, 1997 by Indorama Industries Ltd. for imposition of safeguard duty on imports of bare elastomeric filament yarn into India to protect the domestic producer against serious injury/threat of serious injury caused by the increased imports of spandex into India.

In its petition, Indorama Industries Ltd. claimed that it is the only producer of bare elastomeric filament yarn in India and hence it accounts for 100 percent of the total domestic production.

The product under consideration in the present case is “Bare Elastomeric Filament Yarn of all deniers and varieties” classified under Customs Tariff sub-heading nos. 54024400 and 54041100 of Chapter 54 of the Customs Tariff Act,
1975.

“The application has been examined and it has been found that prima facie increased imports of bare elastomeric filament yarn have caused or are threatening to cause serious injury to the domestic producers of bare elastomeric filament yarn and such increase in imports has caused irreparable damage to the domestic industry and accordingly, it has been decided to initiate an investigation,” the notification said.

Spandex or elastane is manufactured from two main raw materials, namely Poly Tera Methylene Ether Glycol and Mono Diphenyl Methane Diisocynate and is used in various applications such as denim jeans, sportswear, T-shirts, suiting, socks and other garments.

Spandex is imported into India from a number of countries, and primarily from Vietnam, Korea, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand.