Kerala’s handloom sector is facing a shortage of yarn. While more than 151 lakh kgs of yarn was delivered in 2017-18 in the State, the supply volume shrank sharply to 52.825 lakh kgs in 2020-21, said information obtained through a Right to Information Application from the Union Ministry of Textiles.
The National Handloom Development Corporation supplies yarn to weaving groups, said Govindan Nampoothiri, a Kochi-based RTI activist, who collected the information from the Union Ministry.
A total of 109.55 lakh kgs of yarn worth ₹77.47 crore was supplied in 2014-15. The volume of yarn supply increased to 113 lakh kgs worth ₹86.26 crore in the following year. The trend continued to be up with the supply of 124 lakh kgs in 2016-17. That year’s supply was worth ₹96.69 crore. The yarn supply volume rose to more than 151 lakh kgs worth ₹106.42 crore during 2017-18. Since then, the trend has been one of dropping supplies. The volume of yarn supply shrank to 62 lakh kgs worth ₹56.99 crore during 2018-19, said the RTI information.
