As per the Cotton Association of India, slowdown in domestic and global textile demand impacted the cotton consumption of domestic mills, negatively. It was reduced by 2.4 percent year on year to 19.09 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg) during 2008-09 (October-September).
In past few years, cotton consumption of domestic mills witnessed a consistent growth and reached 9.57 bales in 2007-08, recording a 30 percent improvement against the previous five years, revealed the association.
Global economic meltdown as well as increase in domestic cotton prices, along with the high minimum support price offered by the government, impacted cotton demand from the textile industry in 2008-09.
During this period, the consumption of small-scale units was also decreased slightly and slipped to 2.02 million bales, against 2.21 million bales in 2007-08.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India