04 January 2022, Mumbai:

The high price of cotton yarn is posing a significant issue for apparel makers, who have urged the government to intervene immediately.

Raja M. Shanmugham, President of the Tirupur Exporters' Association (TEA), has sent an SOS (Save Our Soul) to Union Textile Minister Piyush Goyal, urging him to help remove the cotton import duty in order to break the cartelization of vested interests in raising domestic cotton prices to unsustainable levels and to see a ban on cotton exports. Cotton is subject to a total import tariff of 11%.

Raja stated in his letter to the Ministry of Transportation that he is concerned that the increase in cotton prices will have a significant impact on garment exporting units, resulting in a loss of exports and jobs.

Furthermore, he warned, the MSMEs' clothing units' long-term viability will be highly questioned.

He also sent letters to the Textile Mills Associations, SIMA, TASMA, and the International Textile Federation, advising their members not to raise cotton yard prices disproportionately to increases in cotton prices, as this would have a negative impact on the value-added knitwear garment sector and make it difficult for both segments of the textile industry to achieve a win-win situation.

The high cost of cotton yarn, for example, is a big concern for garment producers, and despite the MoT's engagement and stringent directives to industry players, this problem has not been rectified.

Raja stated that he has been assisting farmers in obtaining a higher price for their cotton crop, but that dealers are now playing at the expense of garment manufacturing facilities' viability.

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05 January 2022, Mumbai:

The skyrocketing cotton prices has stalled the growth of the textile industry in India, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industries (CITI), one of the leading industry chambers of the textile and clothing sector in the country, has said.

The organisation has urged the Indian government to remove import duty on cotton to provide respite to the industry.

Currently, domestic cotton prices are ruling at a higher price compared to global markets. India’s benchmark Shankar-6 cotton variety was traded at average price of ₹70,000 per candy (356 kg each) or ₹197 per kg in December, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market analysis tool TexPro.

comparison, New York cotton was at US cent 113.63 per lb (₹187 per kg). However, the Cotlook A Index stood at US cent 125.85 per lb (₹207 per kg.)

The cotton price that prevailed at ₹35,000 per candy of 356 kg during September 2020, increased to ₹60,000 per candy in October 2021. In November 2021, the price varied between ₹64,500 per candy and ₹67,000 per candy, according to TexPro.

The price of Gujarat Shankar-6 kapas (unginned cotton) is now ruling at ₹10,062 per quintal as against the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of ₹5,975/- per quintal.

During the last two cotton seasons, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) had procured around two crore bales under MSP. As the kapas price is ruling much higher than the MSP during the current season, CCI has not been able to procure any cotton this season.

The Indian cotton price was fluctuating in sync with the international cotton price (New York Index and Cotlook A Index) till February 2021.

But post the Union Budget 2021-22, the Indian cotton price started ruling higher than the international price for the first time, making the exports uncompetitive resulting in hardships for the exporters in fulfilling the export commitments and taking further orders, CITI said in a press release.

It is because post the Budget there is approximately 11 per cent import duty on cotton, which includes a levy of 5 per cent basic customs duty (BCD), 5 per cent Agriculture Infrastructure & Development Cess (AIDC), and 10 per cent Social Welfare Cess.

In this context, CITI chairman T Rajkumar has made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove the import duty levied on cotton immediately and help the highly labour and export intensive textile industry to gain global competitiveness and prevent the industry from crisis.

In a press release, Rajkumar reiterated the continuous plea made by the textile industry since February 2021 on removing the import duty on cotton, as the same had never affected the farmers as the industry had been predominantly importing speciality cotton including Extra Long Staple (ELS) cotton, contamination-free cotton, and sustainable cotton as the same are not produced in our country to fulfil the requirements of the nominated business customers on a long-term basis.

However, currently, as the kapas price is ruling at its highest in the history, farmers are not bringing the cotton to the market resulting in short supply and surge in kapas price. Rajkumar said that though the price increase is greatly benefitting the cotton farmers, the industry is not able to pass on the hike to the end customers as the domestic cotton price has exceeded the international price.

CITI chairman said that the highly capital-intensive spinning sector, though had been retaining the same yarn price for some time hoping for a reduction in cotton prices during peak arrival season, had to increase the yarn price gradually, as the good quality cotton has surpassed ₹73,000 per candy.

He said that the spinning mills would have normally built three to four months of cotton stock by the end of December, but the steep increase in price has made the mills maintain less than one month of inventory.

Rajkumar also pointed out that the increased rainfall during cotton plucking time has seriously affected the quality causing an acute shortage of good quality cotton for the Indian exporters. He added that the Rd value, the cotton brightness indicator is around 65 as against over 70 during the earlier seasons.

In comparison to normal cotton arrival of 2.3 to 2.5 lakh bales per day during December and January, during the current season it is ranging between 1.62 to 1.8 lakhs per day. As on December 31, 2021, only around 121 lakhs bales had arrived in the market as against 170 to 200 lakhs bales that normally arrived in the market during the earlier seasons.

This indicates a short supply of cotton for building good quality cotton inventory to meet the export quality requirements as the consumption for three months would be around 85 lakhs bales with around 10 lakh bales for export, around 15 lakhs bales for the work-in-progress of the agriculture market, ginning and transport resulting in lower cotton stock level in all the mills, Rajkumar said.

07 January 2022, Mumbai:

After inhaling hazardous fumes spilling from a chemical truck parked near the facility, six workers at a textile dyeing and printing mill in Surat perished and 22 others were hospitalized in a tragic tragedy.

According to media accounts, the workers were in a facility in the Sachin industrial region at the time of the tragedy. The incident was discovered after the fire department received a report at 4.25 a.m., according to local officials.

After breathing poisonous fumes from a chemical truck parked on a roadside near the facility, at least 25 to 26 workers were unconscious and were brought to the new civic hospital. After the fire service stopped the tanker's valve, the leak was brought under control.

"A hazardous gas spilled from the tanker and spread to neighbouring regions when the chemical was being illegally dumped," the Surat civic authority stated in a statement. As a precaution, several residents in the surrounding regions were evacuated. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel expressed his sympathies on Twitter.

"In Surat, several people have regrettably perished as a result of a gas leak. May the spirits of the deceased rest in peace, and may their loved ones find the courage to bear this. "I also pray for those who have been unwell as a result of this occurrence," he stated.

"I was really distressed to learn about a gas leak at a firm in the Sachin GIDC region of Surat early this morning," Gujarat Minister of State (Home) Harsh Sanghavi stated. "I keep in touch with the police department on a regular basis." I spoke with the police commissioner and told him to check into this situation as soon as possible. He went on to say, "We stand in sympathy with the relatives of the fallen ones."

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05 January 2022, Mumbai:

Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for Textiles, Commerce & Industry, has stated that now is the time to become a global champion in textiles by setting bigger and bolder goals. In a virtual conference with prominent textiles associations around the country, he remarked that during the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, we must all work together to achieve our aims.

He stated that the textile sector should strive hard to meet the aim of US $ 100 billion in exports in a short period of time. During the discussion, the industry representative presented a number of problems, one of which is the abolition of GST on clothes rather than only its postponement.

The Minister also thanked the textile leaders for continuing to communicate with the Ministry about their concerns over raising the GST slab in the MMF segment. He emphasised that in order to create India Atma Nirbhar, we must first make Atma Nirbhar its craftsmen, weavers, farmers, and MSMEs.

He stated that the textile ecosystem of the country has been gradually developed in order to fully use our competitive and comparative advantage. These steps have benefited everyone from weavers to female entrepreneurs.

The elimination of anti-dumping duties on numerous essential raw materials, including as PTA, viscose staple fibre, acrylic, and nylon, is a boon to the man-made fiber-based textiles sector, he said.

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DAILY NEWS:

• Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company, collaborates with PUMA on the ‘1DER' line, which features batsman KL Rahul

• Consumers will determine growth of sustainable fashion e-comm in India

• Myntra to offer 1 mn styles from about 7,000 brands at the 'Big Fashion Festival'

• Maharashtra government honors VIP as 'Best Innerwear Brand' for 2021-22

• Nike strengthens retail presences with new store at DLF Mall of India,Noida

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01 January 2022, Mumbai:

On Thursday, Darshana Vikram Jardosh, India's minister of state for textiles, stated that India hopes to attain $100 billion in textile exports in the next five years and that new programmes will be introduced in this regard.

The minister was addressing the Confederation of Indian Industry's launch of TEXCON: The 13th Edition of the International Conference on Textiles and Apparel.

"In pursuit of this objective, we will remain committed to ensuring the implementation of all development programmes and bringing in many more schemes," she said.

Upendra Prasad Singh, the textile secretary, remarked at the same occasion that India is capable of meeting domestic as well as global market demands.

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DAILY NEWS:

• Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company, collaborates with PUMA on the ‘1DER' line, which features batsman KL Rahul

• Consumers will determine growth of sustainable fashion e-comm in India

• Myntra to offer 1 mn styles from about 7,000 brands at the 'Big Fashion Festival'

• Maharashtra government honors VIP as 'Best Innerwear Brand' for 2021-22

• Nike strengthens retail presences with new store at DLF Mall of India,Noida

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07 January 2022, Mumbai:

The Madras High Court in Tamil Nadu has overturned the orders of two government-owned textile factories in Puducherry to down their shutters. According to reports in the media, Justice S. Vaidyanathan overturned the orders of Swadeshi Cotton Mills and Sri Bharathy Mills, units of Swadeshee Bharathi Textiles Mills Limited, Government of Puducherry undertakings, allowing them to close the next day, September 30.

Notably, the bench recently granted two writ petitions filed by the individual mills' labour unions, which challenged the September 2000 closure orders.

They petitioned the court to make the units operational, and the court granted the petitions, stating that the amount previously obtained as compensation by the protesting employees would be modified, and the remaining amount would be paid within six months.

Meanwhile, the employer may file new petitions for the closure of the enterprises under the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, if so advised, after complying with the obligatory legislative provisions and the applicable waiting period.

"This Court believes that the Corporation is a part of the Government of Puducherry, and that any closure application filed by the Corporation can be scrutinised by the authority concerned, and the matter can be immediately referred to a Tribunal, so that instead of two adjudications, one before the authority and the other before the Tribunal, a comprehensive decision can be reached."

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, needs to be amended, according to the court, so that a Labour Court or Tribunal can decide the case because the IAS officers entrusted with such quasi-judicial work are unfamiliar with the Act's strict provisions due to their other administrative/official responsibilities.

The judge stated that if any of the workers had already settled the issue and accepted the monetary rewards, they would be ineligible for any remedy. Employees who have previously had their claims resolved cannot be permitted to have the best of both worlds.

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DAILY NEWS:

• Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company, collaborates with PUMA on the ‘1DER' line, which features batsman KL Rahul

• Consumers will determine growth of sustainable fashion e-comm in India

• Myntra to offer 1 mn styles from about 7,000 brands at the 'Big Fashion Festival'

• Maharashtra government honors VIP as 'Best Innerwear Brand' for 2021-22

• Nike strengthens retail presences with new store at DLF Mall of India,Noida

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01 January 2022, Mumbai:

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in order to stabilise cotton prices, which have risen to their highest level in 11 cotton seasons.

It has also called for the establishment of a cotton price stabilisation fund, which would include a 5% interest subsidy or a loan at the NABARD rate of interest, a reduction in margin money from 25% to 10%, and an increase in the cotton working capital limit from 3 to 9 months.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, T Rajkumar, chairman of CITI, stated that the Indian cotton textile industry has always been in the forefront of affairs due to its inherent strength of abundant raw cotton at competitive rates and the presence of the full cotton value chain.

The Indian Textile Industry employs nearly 10 crore people, ranging from highly qualified workers in technical textile factories to illiterate women and destitute farmers, thanks to this inherent strength. labouring in cotton agricultural areas and modest clothing manufacturers.

The textile and cotton industries have faced numerous obstacles in the previous 10 years, according to the CITI chairman, due to variations in raw cotton prices, which account for 60% of the yarn's cost.

This puts the downstream business, particularly the spinning industry, at risk since it raises yarn prices and makes them unpredictable in the very cost-competitive international market.

He went on to say that cotton's removal from the Essential Commodities Act has exacerbated the industry's problems by allowing foreign cotton traders/hoarders to dominate the Indian cotton business.

They buy cotton in bulk at lower costs during peak season, export it to create shortages, and then speculate on the prices during the off-season. Cotton prices have been rising often, and the Cotton Corporation of India Ltd (CCI).

(CCI) has been unloading large supplies at attractive discounts, fueling cotton price speculation. This causes havoc in the downstream parts, putting pressure on the government to stabilize yarn prices, which will not be achievable until and unless raw cotton prices stabilize.

Rajkumar claims that his appeal will assist MSME spinning mills in obtaining cotton during the peak season (November to March), as well as help farmers obtain higher rates and avoid the MSP.

This would also allow the cotton value chain to develop by 2-3 percent, bringing in several thousands of crores in additional revenue when compared to the current financial commitment of roughly Rs.1000 crores per year.

They also assist in reducing the amount of money spent by the government on MSP operations throughout the course of the year.

Dear Reader, we at DFU Publications are committed to providing the latest news updates on trade development and insights, to keep our readers informed. Stay tuned. Subscribe to our newsletter.

DAILY NEWS:

• Flipkart, an Indian e-commerce company, collaborates with PUMA on the ‘1DER' line, which features batsman KL Rahul

• Consumers will determine growth of sustainable fashion e-comm in India

• Myntra to offer 1 mn styles from about 7,000 brands at the 'Big Fashion Festival'

• Maharashtra government honors VIP as 'Best Innerwear Brand' for 2021-22

• Nike strengthens retail presences with new store at DLF Mall of India,Noida

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