The country’s largest man-made fabric (MMF) sector in Surat is facing tough time with dumping of finished fabrics at throw-away prices by the Chinese. Textile entrepreneurs claimed that the dumping of the crores of meters of under invoiced finished fabric imported from China at the cheap rates of Rs 7 to Rs 8 per meter is the main reason behind the crisis.

The production cost of finished fabric in the local market begins from Rs 50 per meter and goes upto Rs 500 per meter depending on the quality.

Surat weaves around 4 crore meters of fabric per day. It caters to around 45 per cent of the MMF fabric demand in the country. But in the last one month, the weaving sector is facing the worst-ever crisis with over 50 per cent of the powerloom machines shutting down, rendering thousands of workers jobless.

Moreover, out of the 6.5 lakh powerloom machines, around 4 lakh have come to a grinding halt as the demand for fabrics in the domestic market has drastically reduced following dumping of the cheap imported fabrics from China.

According to Industry sources, the powerloom sector is facing anunprecedented situation in the last two decades. The godowns are stacked up with grey fabrics as there are no takers in the market.

Industry leaders met the chief minister Anandiben Patel and urged her to take up the issue with the centre to safeguard the interest of the textile industry in the state.