Adulteration of ginned cotton by Gujarat firms has forced spinning mills to import Rs 3,600 crore cotton from West Africa and Australia last season.
The spinning mills used to import 5-600,000 bales of cotton, especially the extra long staple one, every year to meet requirements after bu?y?ing from domestic ginners. But in the last cotton season, they had to import 2.3 million bales of cotton from co?u?ntries like West Africa and Australia. The import of 1.7 million more bales incurred Rs 3,600 crore forex outgo, said the South Indian Mills Association (Sima).
According to Sima, increasing adulteration forced mills to import more. The industry has been facing the adulteration problem for the last few years, but the number of companies adulterating and the quantum of adulterant grew many-fold in the last cotton season.
“Majority of the textile mills has reported that cotton purchased from Gujarat was adulterated. A section of ginners in Gujarat are mixing cotton waste (comber noil – waste extracted by spinning mills) in the virgin cotton for profit. The ginners can sell the cotton waste for double the price if it is mixed with the virgin cotton,” said M Senthilkumar, Sima chairman.
The short staple cotton is removed from the long staple and extra long staple cotton to ensure quality. Due to adulteration, spinning mills’ cotton-to-yarn realisation fa?lls to 67-68 per cent from 72 per cent with quality cotton.
“The mills can’t run the machine at the same speed as short fibre has to be removed in between. It also affects quality and strength of yarn,” he added.
Though the issue was raised with the Gujarat agriculture minister and the Gujarat Ginners Association in December 2015, the Gujarat government has taken no action, Sima claimed.
As a result, the purchase of Gujarat cotton by Tamil Nadu mills has come down by 40-50 per cent. They used to buy 5-7 million bales from Gujarat. To meet the requirement, they are buying from Telengana as well as importing it.
According to Sima, TN textile mills prefer Shankar 6 variety grown in Gujarat, as it’s suitable to produce hosiery yarn for the garment sector. Mills have also sou?ght the intervention of Union textile minister Sm?rti Irani to resolve the issue.
The spinning mills used to import 5-600,000 bales of cotton, especially the extra long staple one, every year to meet requirements after bu?y?ing from domestic ginners. But in the last cotton season, they had to import 2.3 million bales of cotton from co?u?ntries like West Africa and Australia. The import of 1.7 million more bales incurred Rs 3,600 crore forex outgo, said the South Indian Mills Association (Sima).
According to Sima, increasing adulteration forced mills to import more. The industry has been facing the adulteration problem for the last few years, but the number of companies adulterating and the quantum of adulterant grew many-fold in the last cotton season.
“Majority of the textile mills has reported that cotton purchased from Gujarat was adulterated. A section of ginners in Gujarat are mixing cotton waste (comber noil – waste extracted by spinning mills) in the virgin cotton for profit. The ginners can sell the cotton waste for double the price if it is mixed with the virgin cotton,” said M Senthilkumar, Sima chairman.
The short staple cotton is removed from the long staple and extra long staple cotton to ensure quality. Due to adulteration, spinning mills’ cotton-to-yarn realisation fa?lls to 67-68 per cent from 72 per cent with quality cotton.
“The mills can’t run the machine at the same speed as short fibre has to be removed in between. It also affects quality and strength of yarn,” he added.
Though the issue was raised with the Gujarat agriculture minister and the Gujarat Ginners Association in December 2015, the Gujarat government has taken no action, Sima claimed.
As a result, the purchase of Gujarat cotton by Tamil Nadu mills has come down by 40-50 per cent. They used to buy 5-7 million bales from Gujarat. To meet the requirement, they are buying from Telengana as well as importing it.
According to Sima, TN textile mills prefer Shankar 6 variety grown in Gujarat, as it’s suitable to produce hosiery yarn for the garment sector. Mills have also sou?ght the intervention of Union textile minister Sm?rti Irani to resolve the issue.
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