Under-declaration continues to dog textile industry

Despite SA Revenue Service’s
best efforts, under-valuation
of clothing and textile imports
from the Far East remains a
major issue of contention for
the industry.
Sars has been vocal about
its get tough attitude on
under-valuation and the abuse
of rebate and other trade
schemes, but it remains a
problem, according to Textile
Federation executive director
Brian Brink.
“There was a bit of a
blitz before Christmas over
12 months ago and they
relaunched the get tough
campaign in April last year.
“Clearly there are good
intentions but the question is
whether these are followed
through properly.”
The bottom line, says
Brink, is that the declared
landed prices are still
extremely depressed.
“We’ve had meetings
with senior guys and they
are honestly trying to do
something, but if you look in
the marketplace we don’t see
any improvement.
“It’s not an easy problem to
solve and Sars has taken on
board many of the concerns,
but they need to follow
through on that.”
Quotas on Chinese imports,
which were terminated two
years ago, were seen as a
means of addressing the
industry’s concerns.
But rather than stemming
the flow of cheap imports,
these continued to flow into
the country from a range of
obscure destinations – with
China replaced by the likes of
Myanmar, for example.