Tamil Nadu spinners source cotton from Africa

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Tamil Nadu spinners source cotton from Africa

Yarn manufacturers in Tamil Nadu are looking to procure cotton from overseas markets after finding the supply from Gujarat widely adulterated with comber noil, a waste product in the textile supply chain. About 43 mills in the textile hub of Coimbatore and Tirupur are turning to West African nations to replace the supply from their decades-old source as they seek more metres of yarn per bale of cotton.

For spinners, the alleged adulteration is pushing the horizons beyond India, says Prabhu Damodharan, secretary of Indian Texpreneurs Federation. Gujarat Sankar-6, priced at Rs 34,000-34,200 a candy is expected to get costlier on demand from mills. Textile entrepreneurs plan to skip this price increase by procuring cotton from eight West African countries including Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.

"Imports can be booked in January, all the way up to June at a steady price from West African countries. This will provide continuous supply of the same fibre at lower interest rates of around 2.5% a year," ITF, an entrepreneur lobby based in southern India with combined annual turnover over Rs 35,000 crore, said in an internal note.

Gujarat has been India's leading cotton producing state owing to its abundant black soil and environs to infuse natural moisture into fibres. It sells nearly 120 lakh bales a year, two-thirds of this to Tamil Nadu. Gujarat cotton commands a premium over competing states because it requires fewer chemicals for dyeing, among other advantages. Lately, however, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have been eating into Gujarat's share.

The Southern India Mills' Association has sent a letter to the Gujarat government urging action against ginners. "The buying has been brought down to 40% of usual levels due to this adulteration," said K Selvaraju, secretary general of the association.