Indian govt urges cotton yarn producers to cut prices

11 Apr '13

2 min read

Textiles Ministry of India has called on the domestic cotton yarn producers to maintain the prices of their produce at low levels, so as to avert any negative impact on any of the textile industry segments, particularly the powerloom sector, ZeeBiz said quoting PTI.

During a stakeholders meeting held to discuss the issues confronting the country’s textile and apparel industry, Textiles Secretary Zohra Chatterjee urged the cotton yarn producers to reduce prices to avoid the need for any Government intervention, Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) Chairman A Sakthivel said.

Over the past few weeks, cotton yarn prices have experienced a sharp rise of about 20 percent causing several powerlooms to face difficulties, consequently leading to job losses.

Besides powerlooms, it has also impacted other sectors like manufacturers of garments and made-ups for local and export markets, Mr. Sakthivel said.

He said high yarn prices have also pushed up the cotton fabric prices in home market and has thus caused an inequilibrium in the entire textile chain.

This is because local garment exporters procure orders four to six months in advance quoting prices on the basis of cotton yarn prices then prevailing in the market. But now as the cotton yarn prices have gone up unexpectedly, all their calculations have gone wrong, and they cannot even add new profit margin, as most of the times the orders have been grabbed amid tough competition, the AEPC Chairman explained.

AEPC urged the government to ban export of cotton yarn and allow its duty-free imports.

Representatives of Handicrafts and Handlooms Exports Corporation, Texprocil, Garment Exporters Association and Confederation of Indian Textile Industry also attended the meeting, alongside AEPC.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

More Ministry of Textiles - India News... More Textiles News - India...