In the light of a steep fall in the price of raw silk over the last fortnight, which in turn has affected the farmers, the State government on Monday has decided to intervene in the market and purchase raw silk through Karnataka Silk Marketing Board (KSMB) from Tuesday. Reduced demand and the traders’ lobby is said to be behind the fall in raw silk prices.
Government sources said that the price of raw silk that was hovering around ₹5,000 per kilo and had remained stable in the last two years, has dropped to about ₹3,500 per kilo. “In turn, with the cost of raw silk coming down, the price of cocoon is seeing a downward trend in the cocoon market. Farmers are already losing about ₹100 per kilo of cocoon. The current price of cocoon is about ₹450 per kilo,” a senior official in the Sericulture Department told The Hindu. Any impact on price in raw silk will impact the farmers, and market intervention is necessary to arrest the further fall of cocoon prices and also help the reelers, sources said.
While Sericulture Minister K.C. Narayanagowda, who chaired a meeting on Monday, announced purchase of raw silk by the government, the price fixing committee that met in the evening decided to ensure a fair price to stabilise the market. The Minister, in a release, said that the silk production had increased by 23%, and that it could be one of the reasons for price decline as produce is flooding the market in the last 15 days.
“We suspect the role of the traders’ lobby in reducing the price. Also, we are told that a new type of thread (art silk) that resembles silk yarn from Surat is being made available in Bengaluru. This looks like a silk yarn and is cheaper. Hence, demand for raw silk has also come down. We are checking on this too.” Besides, a general trend of reduced demand for silk sarees has also been affecting the demand for raw silk, the official said.
Meanwhile, president of Karnataka Sericulturists Welfare Association Gowtham Gowda also blamed the trader lobby for the current mess. He said “The decline in the cost of cocoon by almost 25% has affected the farmers hard. The arrival of cocoons in the market had also reduced.” Mr. Gowtham said that the reelers have not been properly paid by the traders, who cite year end, but also are refusing to increase the demand for raw silk. “The price is fixed based on the demand. Any disruption in the supply chain will reflect in cocoon market.”
