Hosiery manufacturers in Tirupur cluster have urged the Union Government to streamline the purchase and sale of cotton that could benefit growers, sellers and users of cotton within the country.
South India Hosiery Manufacturers Association (SIHMA) president A.C. Eswaran, in a representation to the Union Textiles Minister, K.S. Rao, had highlighted the difficulties faced by the apparel industry in the last two years due to the fluctuating prices of cotton.
“Sudden variation in the cotton prices has made the prices of yarn volatile,” the association president said.
Suggestions
Some of the suggestions put forward by the SIHMA, before the Textiles Minister, were fixation of reasonable rates for cotton growers and banning of any online sale of cotton sourced by Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to the private traders.
Mr. Eswaran said fixing of rates for procurement of cotton from farmers in the coming ‘cotton season’ starting October should be done prior to the beginning of the arrivals depending on the various grades of cotton.
On the online trade, the hosiery manufacturers were of the view that CCI should refrain from such method of sale as the produce could end up in the hands of traders who are likely to hoard the stock till the prices increase.
“Cotton, if procured by private traders, can also get exported making the domestic apparel industry struggle.
Hence, CCI should directly sell the cotton only to ‘real consumers’ of cotton,” they said.
Direct sale
The direct sale of cotton to the textile industry would help the spinning mills in the sector to fix reasonable rate for yarn on a consistent basis.
