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G. Srinivasan

NEW DELHI, Nov. 7

INDIA has sought the intervention of the US Department of Commerce to resolve the imbroglio over the embargo on knitwear shipments. Exports of knitwear items under Category 338/339 have already exceeded the quota for this year, as a result of which an embargo has been clamped on further exports from India.

Industry sources told Business Line that for the first time ever there was 100 per cent utilisation by India of its quota limit under category 338/339 (cotton knit shirts and blouses).

Despite the efforts by the Indian authorities to take corrective steps, including by prohibiting acceptance of further consignments by the Indian Customs after October 17, 2002, some shipments of the said category had landed in the US.

The sources said that these consignments could not be cleared as a result of the embargo clamped by the US Customs on October 25. This had led to avoidable hardship and potential losses to the US importers and Indian exporters.

Officials in the Textile Ministry also confirmed that they had received expressions of concern from several US companies, conveying that their business has been disrupted and their sales projections as well as downstream commitments to local US vendors for the ensuing holiday season had been affected.

In view of these developments, India urged the Chairman, Committee for the Implementation of Textile Agreements, International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, to explore the possibilities whereby the US authorities could make available to India a small increase in its quota limit under Category 338/339 for this year. New Delhi estimated that the quantities entailed are between one million and 1.5 million pieces under Category 338/339, over and above the quota of 60 million pieces of these items shipped till mid-October.

The sources said that India had pleaded that as an exceptional case, a mutually acceptable formula could be hammered out so that an adjustment could be made against the quota limit available to India under the same category (338/339) for next year, thus enabling the shipments that have landed in the US to be cleared.

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