Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Youssef Botros Ghali recently imposed a 150 percent dumping fee on Syrian cotton textile products, valid for a one year period, reported Al-Ahram. The measure was taken in response to complaints filed by local textile manufacturers on the large quantity of Syrian product entering the Egyptian market at dumping prices.
Dumping exists when a product is sold in a foreign market at a price that is less than the product is sold for in the origin country or it is sold for less than its production costs. The foreign country is allowed to impose anti-dumping duties to correct this position.
Syria’s annual cotton production stands at 3.8 tons per hectare. Official statistics show that cotton crops are cultivated on 4.5 percent of the available arable farming lands in Syria. The cotton-farming sector employs 390,000 workers, equivalent to ten percent of the total labor force in Syria, and 30 percent of the labor force in the local agriculture sector. — (menareport.com)
© 2002 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
