South Indian textile mills have drastically reduced their cotton procurement by around 40 per cent (around 15 lakh bales) from Gujarat during October-September season of 2016-17.
The media reports claim that the increased adulteration in cotton with substances like comber noil and other cotton wastes has led to the drastic fall in the cotton purchases from the state.
The ginners reportedly started mixing comber waste in the cotton to meet the increasing demand in Gujarat due to rising number of textile mills in the state.
P Nataraj, Vice President, Indian Cotton Federation (ICF) and MD, KPR Mill underlined that high contamination affects the quality of yarns as well the final product (garment).
He further explained that it is difficult for mills to identify the contamination as the comber waste looks cleaner than cotton. This propelled many of the mill owners to tap on other parts of the country for cotton procurement to meet the compliance norms set by the buyers.
However, the Gujarat ginners are not worried about the situation as the local consumption has increased significantly in the past few years.
According to sources, a large number of spinning units will be set up in Gujarat in the coming years. This will further increase the state’s consumption level, making the local ginners less dependent on the other states to sell cotton.
Karuppasamy, a Textile Spinning Mills Consultant told Apparel Resources, “Gujarat is a cotton hub as it accounts for nearly one-third (100 lakh bales) of India’s total cotton production. But in the past two years, the adulteration issue has affected the image of the state, especially in TN that produces only 5-6 lakh bales and is totally dependent on sourcing cotton from other parts of the country. Due to cotton adulteration in Gujarat, TN mills have shifted to Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh for procurement and are also importing from Australia and African countries.”
