The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Powerloom weavers give up trade due to poor profit

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Thursday, Oct 02, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Powerloom weavers give up trade due to poor profit

Staff Reporter

Declining orders and wage policy force weavers to sell their looms

— PHOTO:M.GOVARTHAN

Hard times: Powerloom weavers in Vellakoil are selling their looms as they find the going tough.

VELLAKOIL: Powerloom weavers here are giving up weaving and selling off their looms. In the last couple of months weavers have sold more than 3,000 of the 15,000 looms in the area for scrap. ‘It is profitable to sell looms than weave,’ said M.S. Mohan, president of the Powerloom Weavers’ Association.

One of the main reasons for giving up the business is poor remuneration, the weavers said. ‘Five years ago, the weavers earned Rs. 25 for a metre with a profit of Rs. 5. Today they get Rs. 12 for a metre and no profit,’ said Mr. Mohan.

The second reason is the declining amount of orders.

The weavers got orders from exporters in Karur, a home furnishing export hub. The exporters supplied yarn, which the weavers wove and charged per metre. They wove bed spread, table cloth, apron, curtain, etc.

‘Until a few months ago, weavers got bulk orders. They would weave about 4,000 metres of loom in a month. Today, it is just 500 metres,’ said M. Chinnadurai, who sold his eight looms last week.

Poor orders mean minimum work but no reduction in wages.

‘Though there is not much work, weavers pay full wages to retain labourers,’ he explained.

Labourers are in demand, due to the well-paying industries in neighbouring Tirupur district. ‘Weavers here pay only Rs. 4 a metre; whereas Tirupur-based industries give them between Rs. 120 and Rs. 150 a day,’ said Ka. Marappan of Powerloom Development and Export Promotion Council (PDEXCIL). This also explained the reason for labour migration.

As a result of the unfriendly weaving climate loom traders are doing good business.

‘I have bought and sold more than 200 looms in the past couple of months,’ said K.S. Gunasekar, a loom trader. There are 10 others in the trade.

M.S. Mathivanan, chairman of the PDEXCIL, said that the distress sale of looms has to do with rise in waste cotton prices.

‘Rise in waste cotton prices means escalation in yarn prices. This cuts exporters’ profit margins and they transfer it to weavers,’ he said.

If the Union Government bans waste cotton export and inks trade agreement with European Union, a big market for home furnishing, then the trade will revive, he added. State Minister for Handlooms and Textiles K.K.S.S.R. Ramachandran told The Hindu over phone that he would study the issue and promised to do the needful.

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