South Indian mills seek cotton storage facility in Colombo

30 Sep '16

2 min read

South Indian textile mills, primarily those in Tamil Nadu are looking at the opportunity of international cotton traders storing imported cotton at the Colombo port in Sri Lanka, as against a Malaysia port currently. An Indian delegation is visiting Sri Lanka for this initiative, which will bring down the transportation cost as well as time.

A leading daily quoted M. Senthil Kumar, chairman of Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) as saying that the volume of imported cotton is expected to rise in the 2016-17 season, when compared with the current season.

According to Senthil Kumar, SIMA will request international traders to use the Colombo port to store cotton, a location advantageous to supply to even other Asian countries.

The Indian delegation will look for a warehouse, which will not charge detention charges, while offering demurrage-free storage.

Cotton Association of India (CAI) has predicted that cotton production for 2016-17 season beginning October 1 would be 336 lakh bales of 170 kg each. This estimate is nearly similar to the 337.75 lakh bales produced in the ongoing season, as per CAI's July estimate. (AR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India

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