RI protests cotton dumping allegation to EU

RI protests cotton dumping allegation to EU

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has formally protested to the European
Union over its repeated allegation of dumping unbleached cotton
in Europe.

Chief of Indonesia's Antidumping Committee (Kadi), Aidil
Juzar, said yesterday the committee had sent a letter objecting
the European Union's decision to reopen the case a week ago.

"We consider this trade harassment," he was quoted by Antara
as saying.

Aidil said the Indonesian ambassador for the EU in Brussels
had also sent a similar letter of protest.

Aidil said the EU commission on the antidumping case was
divided between members who considered the dumping case over, and
those who thought it was not.

The dumping charge was raised on Feb. 21 last year, when a
EU commission investigated the export of unbleached cotton from
Indonesia, the People's Republic of China, Egypt, India, Pakistan
and Turkey.

The EU alleged the six countries practiced dumping, causing
losses to the unbleached cotton industry in the EU countries.

Antara reported the value of the alleged dumping reached about
480 million ecus last year.

The European Union imposed additional antidumping taxes on
Indonesian unbleached cotton cloth ranging from 3.5 percent to
14.5 percent, but the duties were removed in May due to
persistent lobbying by the Indonesian Antidumping committee.

Data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry shows Indonesia's
export of unbleached cotton to the European Union grew by an
average 10.56 percent to US$66.2 million in 1996 from US$59.8
million in 1995. (das)