Global crisis fails to daunt organic cotton market - Hayleys MGT
Mr Bandula Weerasinghe, Joint Managing Director, Hayleys MGT
The global economic downturn has affected most of the industries across the world in a profound way. High inflation rate and slow industrial growth has left textile manufacturers in a miserable state, thus undermining the actual potential of the sector.
Mr Bandula Weerasinghe, Joint Managing Director, Hayleys MGT, Committee Member, Hayleys PLC, shared his observation with Fibre2fashion.com, on the current developments and happenings in natural fibre market world over.
“The current market on apparel is crashing due to lack of demand, especially in Europe and USA markets. With respect to knitted fabric, the demand on fabric made out of natural fibres, are more sustainable than that of synthetic fibres. However there will be a significant shrink in over all demand due to commodity price crashing.”
Mr Weerasinghe extending further stated, “The sustainability of natural fibre fabric on global market is mainly because firstly there is a huge concern by the consumer on value stream as to how people in cotton industry are benefited compared to the people working in the synthetic fibre manufacturing. Thus retailer of the high end market is concerned on the income generated by cotton growers in under-developed countries and the articles manufactured from fare trade cotton are been marketed despite the lower margins generated by them.
“Secondly, the concerns on chemical, fertiliser usage and climate change, green house gases are dragging consumer from man made fibres to organic cotton. Therefore the organic cotton market is still unshaken despite the global economical crisis. In addition, markets are getting adapted on high quality cotton fabric from expansive cotton fibres than adding value on cotton materials such as mercerising.”
Concluding in the context of domestic industry, Mr Weerasinghe notes, "Since there is no cotton farming in Sri Lanka, the only fibre business, the coir industry that has a thriving past, is currently suffering due to the global economical crisis."
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India