Govt to intervene if cotton price rise unabated

New Delhi, Apr 10 (KNN) The government may intervene to control the price of cotton if its manufacturers continue to hike the rate, according to Textiles Secretary Zohra Chatterji.

She advised all cotton yarn producers to keep the prices low so that there is no need for government intervention.  Further, she attributed the shutdown of many power looms and the resulting job loss to the price rise, according to an official statement.

Meanwhile, Apparel Export Promotion Council, Chairman, A Shakthivel said, “The cotton price has soared considerably over the last month from Rs 37,600 per candy in March to Rs 38,800 per candy on April-1 owing to artificial demand created by manufacturers.”

Increase in demand and high cotton yarn prices, has affected the garment sector  and other sectors such as handloom, powerloom and ready-mades both for domestic sale and the export market. 

“The higher cotton yarn prices have adversely impacted the selling prices of cotton fabric in domestic market resulting in disequilibrium in the whole textile chain,” Sakthivel added.

With the current high cotton yarn prices, buyers are staying out of the Indian market and since the prices of cotton yarn in competing countries such as China, Bangladesh and Cambodia are comparatively cheaper, they are turning to them. (KNN)