India may suffer a cotton scarcity; The sector urges duty-free cotton imports

01 March 2022, Mumbai:

India, which has been growing excess cotton and selling it to various nations, is expected to suffer a cotton deficit of 3 to 4 million bales this season. This is mostly due to a significant rise in demand and the shipment of around 5 million bales.

In light of this, the textile sector has asked the government to allow the import of 4 million bales duty-free. Ravi Sam, Chairman of the Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) in Coimbatore, has urged the Prime Minister to intervene immediately on cotton policies and take appropriate measures to avoid production halts and job losses, as well as to allow exporters to meet their commitments during the off-season.

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He claimed that the cotton crop size for the cotton season 2021-22 will be less than 35 million bales, as opposed to the industries' demand of 36 million bales, due to a 7.2 percent decline in cotton area and crop damage in several cotton-growing States due to severe rain.

"The spinning sector, which has been unable to modernize over 35% of its capacity owing to a long-running recession over the previous 15 years, has recently begun to invest in modernization, capacity growth, and greenfield projects."

Every month, almost two lakh spindles capacity is added in the country, and this trend is expected to continue in the next years provided a favorable atmosphere is formed," he said.

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BGMEA Vice President Miran Ali and Directors Asif Ashraf, Tanvir Ahmed and Abdullah Hil Rakib were also present on the occasion.

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