An industry association representing Japanese towel makers filed a petition with the government Monday to invoke import restriction measures to combat a steep increase in towel imports from China and Vietnam.
Yoshihide Yoshihara, president of the Japan Towel Industrial Association, submitted the petition to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, saying that the less-expensive imports are severely damaging the domestic industry.
"In the past decade, our industry has declined to less than half in terms of the number of manufacturers and production quantities. We are in a very difficult situation," Yoshihara told reporters.