Taiwanese towel manufacturers urged the government to implement provisional import-relief measures and raise duties on Chinese towel imports 18-fold, or set an import quota for three years in order to save the ailing local towel industry.
The Yunlin Towel Industrial Technology and Development Association (雲林縣毛巾產業科技發展協會), which was behind the safeguard mechanism application, made the request yesterday at the Ministry of Economic Affairs' International Trade Commission's second hearing in Taipei.
The hearing was convened after the ministry confirmed last month that Chinese products have disrupted the Taiwanese market.
The association's previous appeal was for an increase of duties on Chinese towel imports from the current 10.5 percent to 50 percent, but now it is asking for a hike to 189 percent, based on the Ministry of Finance's preliminary anti-dumping investigation.
The Ministry of Finance estimated that the sales prices of Chinese-made towel products should be increased to reach price levels similar to those of Taiwanese products.
`acceptable'
"The figure is low, but still acceptable," Thumas Huang (
The association requested the imposition of a 189 percent duty on Chinese towels for the first year, which would decline to 179 percent the second year, and 169 percent in the third year, to conform to the principle of gradual liberalization.
Another import-relief measure proposed by the association was adopting quota tariffs to restrict the quantity of Chinese imports. The association suggested the quota for the first year could be the average of Chinese imports during 2000 to 2004, which was estimated to be around 3.23 million kilograms. Imports exceeding the range would be slapped with a 189 percent tariff.
quota
The quota could increase by 7.5 percent to 3.47 million kilograms in the second year, and 3.73 million kilograms by the third year, according to the association.
The association urged that one of the proposed measures should have been made on March 17, when the economic ministry made the affirmative injury determination.
The commission will submit the suggestions made during yesterday's hearing to the Ministry of Economic Affairs for approval. After the approval, the ministry will request consultations with the Chinese authorities within 60 days to seek an agreement on the measures.
Liu Jianwei (劉建偉), a lawyer representing the delegation from China, said that no safeguard measures should be taken against Chinese goods, contending that there was no legal proof that China's towel exports to Taiwan had caused market disruption.
"Chinese industries are highly concerned about this case and hope industries in Taiwan will not abuse the safeguard mechanism, which would damage long-term cross-strait trade activities," Liu said, adding that the dispute could be solved via private negotiations.
As the Ministry of Finance was also conducting an anti-dumping investigation into the case, Taiwan should not take any safeguard measures before that investigation is concluded in order to avoid double sanctions, Liu said.
The ministry also made a preliminary determination in the anti-dumping case on March 17 and passed on the results to the Ministry of Finance, which will make its determination within 70 days of receiving the official document.
RSS