Government authorities should bring in anti-dumping regulations which will not only help the industries but also the ultimate consumer to get quality products at an affordable prices, said Sanjay Tiwari, Managing Director & CEO, Piramal Glass Ceylon PLC, President of the Sri Lanka Ceramic and Glass Council.
Speaking at the Sri Lanka Ceramics and Glass Council AGM last Friday in Kingsbury Hotel he said that they have been informed that Anti-Dumping regulations have been drafted for long and awaiting parliamentary approvals.
Cheap imports of tiles, sanitary ware, glass and tableware from China, India, Indonesia and other Asian suppliers still remain a significant threat to the local industry and Anti-Dumping legislation yet to be enacted has resulted in inferior items coming into the island.
The requirement of floor and roof tiles has gone up tremendously in recent past with the current focus on infrastructure and investments in real estate. “Out of the total requirements of floor and roof tiles, almost 60% of the volumes are serviced through imports into the country.
“Due to current restriction and limitation on clay and silica mining, the industry is restrained from investing in capacity expansion. Also cheap quality material continues getting dumped in the country.”
The council continues to lobby with the authorities to provide licenses to genuine miners to extract silica sand which is found in Batticaloa, Puttalam and Mannar areas where no exploration has been carried out. “With the banning of asbestos in 2018 Silica Sand is a vital ingredient of fibre cement which is a very good substitute for asbestos. With the proposed free trade agreement in the offing, the Council expressed its concerns over the investment being made by the Sri Lanka Ceramic and Glass Industry in building capacity to not only service the nation requirements but to have a global presence. With an employment of over 55,000 people and to further encourage the industry to invest and contribute towards growth of exports by doing value addition to the available natural resources. In line with this, our council had made representations to protect the domestic Ceramic and Glass Industry,” he said.
Tiwari also said that the Council continued its lobbying for reducing the price of furnace oil which is used extensively in the Ceramic & Glass industry.
“We have also submitted our representation to Chambers for the forthcoming National budget of the country seeking help in the areas of strategic developments and removal of hurdles,” he added.
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