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candy (1 candy = 356 kg) in October to

Rs. 28,300 a cand y in July, up 41.5 per

cent cent.

The Commission tor Agr icui ture Costs

arid Prices (CACP) recommends MSP

for two basic varieties of raw cotton of

fair-average quaiity.

Whi ie on is the medium iong stapie

iength group of 25 mm-27 mm of the

variety F414/H-777/J-34, the other is the

iong stapie group of 27.5 mm-32 which

is of the variety H-4.

Wh ile d ec idi ng the IVISP, the cos t of

production and a reasonable margin of

profits for cotton growers are taken into

account .

The count ry produced 31 .5 m i l l ion

bales (1 bale = 170 kg) in 2007-08

against 28 mill ion bales in 2006-07.

However, due to a fall in acreage in the

US and higher global demand, cotton

exceeded the target of 8.5 million bales

and went ahead 10 mill ion bales.

This had its impact on the cotton prices

which shot up to historical highs in the

current cotton year.

C h i na s lo s s c a b e I n d ia s g a i n

in text i l e m arket

A fall in the export of text i le and ap-

parel from china to the United States

during January-June, even as the value

o f I nd ia ' s sh ipm en t s r em a ined un -

changed,

is sparking hopes of a shift in

US orders from the world's most popu-

lous nation to this country. India, Viet-

nam,

Cambodia and Bang lades h are

among the few count r ies whose ex-

ports of text i le and apparel to the US

rose during the first six months of 2008

while the world's biggest economy goes

through a downturn.

However, China, Pakistan, Sr i Lanka

and Turkey have seen a slowdown in

offtake from their US suppliers amid a

drop in the value of the country's textile

and appa re l im po r t s . One can see

some shift in orders from China to other

countries, notably Bangladesh and In-

dia. We can pos s ibly look at an addi-

t ional 1 bil l ion of exports hap pen ing

out of India, the US importers are ag-

gressively looking at alternate sourcing

locations and India is high on the buy-

ers'

list.

Official US statistics show that the coun-

try imported textiles and apparel worth

24.37 billion during Jan-June 2008, a

5.1%

drop compa red to 25.7 billion in

t he co r re spond ing yea r -ago pe r iod .

From 2004 to 2007, the country's im-

ports rose from 46.93 billion to 53.12

billion.

India's exports to the US in the

f i r s t s ix months th i s year remained

barely cha nge d at 1 .42 bil l ion from

1.41 bil l ion while Vietnam's grew to

824 mill ion from 668 mill ion.

B ang ladesh ' s sh ipm en t s wen t up t o

832 mi l l ion f rom 811 mi l l ion. The

value of Chinese textile exports, on the

other hand , fell from 9.7 billion to 9.5

b i l l ion ,

whi le Pak is tan was down to

1.42 bi l l ion ( 1 .68 bi l l ion) and Sr i

Lanka 201 million ( 245 million). Tur-

key c loc ked exports of 264 mi l lion

from 313 million in the firs t six months

of 2007.

Global buyers are looking at the cheap-

es t -cos t p roducer . Ind ian expor ter s

need to look at moving up the value

chain and ensuring better realizat ions

at a t ime when cur rency movement

would be highly unpredictable.

D oom fo r hand loom

Despite concerted efforts by the Gov-

ernment of India to protect region-spe-

c i f ic p roduc t s th rough Geograph ica l

Indicat ion (GIs) Act, handloom fabrics

are on the verge of collapse with loom-

ing threat of fakes, increasing unem-

ployment and a lack of will on the part

of textile authorities to correct the flaws

in the system.

One only has to talk to those involved

with the world-famous 'Banarasi ' s arees

to get a t rue picture. Banarasi saree

and brocade, one of the product cat-

egories that fall under the Geographical

Indicat ion (Gis) Act , today faces the

biggest threat from pass-offs produced

by powerlooms of Surat.

An original Benares saree, which takes

5-7 days and i s s ix meter s

long ,

pr iced at Rs.

1 500.

But pass-offs fro

Surat ' s power looms, wh ich produce

three sarees in one day, is today avail

able between Rs. 250-450.

The pass-offs not only eat into the live

l ihood of srores of sk i l led Banaras

weavers , they a l so des t roy the

we l

earned recognit ion of the fabric, ove

six lakh skil led workers who run this Rs

4,000-crore business today aren't get

t ing the due wages.

HWA is a registered society based i

Varanasi (which the Brit ishers referre

to as Benaras) th is is c losely work in

with the weavers of Banarasi sarees.

K annu r hom e f u rn i sh ing i s ano t he

handloom category that has been suf

fering, but due to a lack of interest from

the younger generation. In fact, it ha

seen a 50 per cent decline in volume

in the last few years.

Despite export ing towels, table clothes

pil low covers, cushion covers and bed

s preads to the value of R s. 300 crore

annual ly , the volume is fast eroding

due to a declining population O;^weav

ers.

3

Over 50 per cent of the labour engaged

in this home furnishing business is ove

50 years of age, the young don't wan

to follow their family tradit ion, Kannu

hom e f u rn i sh ing i ndus t r y has seen

employment f igures dwind l ing down

from 1 lakh weavers 15 years back to

just 13,000 weavers now.

The other threat the handloom industr

is facing is a lack of wil l in executing

the Handloom Mark Scheme inst ituted

by the government of India in June

2006 to promote handloom products on

the domest ic as wel l as internat iona

scene .

The scheme cal ls for handloom weav

ers and t raders to apply a 'handloom

tag'

on the handwoven products .

The problem with the scheme is tha

there is very litt le funds going into the

promotion of the tags among the weav

ers.

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Also,with each tag coming for 60 paise,

it comes with a high cost for poor

weavers - a real indicator of the poor

margins these weavers earn now.

Two years after implementation of the

scheme, only four entrepreneurs in the

whole of Kannur have applied for the

scheme.

Centre to develop text i le hub in

Coimbatore

The texti les ministry has identified

South India Textile Research Associa-

tion (SITRA) based in Coimbatore for

development into a centre of excel-

lence for production of medical textiles

products (Meditech). The government

would grant Rs. 10 crore to set up the

necessary facilities, including interna-

tionally accredited testing lab, training

facilities, IT enabled information center

and video-conferencing facility.

This maiden effort is part of the

ministry's strategy to provide one-stop

infrastructure support for the promotion

of technical textiles, which have an

estimated market potential of Rs.

30,000 crore by the end of 2008-09.

Coimbatore has been selected as it has

a large number of hospitals and several

textile units through-out Tamil Nadu are

already active players in medical tex-

tiles.

The upcoming center is likely to oper-

ate successfully helping entrepreneurs

to produce items with existing machin-

ery and with minimum investment. The

SITRA centre would be followed by

three more - The Northern India Textile

Research Association (NITRA) for pro-

motion of protective texti les, the

Mumbai Textile Research Association

for geo-Textiles, and Synthetic and Art

Silk Mills Research Association

(SASMIRA) and Man-made Textile Asso-

ciation for agro-textiles.

To promote medical textiles, the SITRA

centre would go a step further to invite

internatinal experts to create awareness

among local entrepreneurs about vari-

ous products by means of seminars

and workshops for the local industry. At

the same time, to expand the limited

database of technical textiles, the gov-

ernment has engaged ICRA Manage-

ment Consultancy Services (ImaCS) to

conduct a baseline survey of the seg-

ment. The report of the ImaCS would

be available next month.

According to texti le minister

Shankersingh Vaghela, the government

has chalked out an action plan to pro-

mote technical texti les which is an

emerging area for investment in the

country and has provided opportunity to

conventional textile manufacturers to

diversify into niche knowledge-based

activity. Being less competitive and

more profitable than conventional tex-

tiles,

the $107 billion global technical

textile industry is expected to grow to

$127 billion by 2010.

Vaghela expressed concern about India

having a meager 4% share in this mar-

ket, though it is the second largest tex-

tile economy after China which ac-

counts for 20% of the total textile activ-

ity. To facilitate investments in the area,

the government has included major

machinery required for technical tex-

tiles in the list of items with

concessional custom duties in the

modified Technology Upgradation Fund

Scheme (TUFS) this year.

Olympics spel ls doom

for

tex t i le

uni ts

in

Bh iwand i

The Beijing Olympic Games has not

spelled good news for more than 60

textile processing units in Bhiwandi with

shortage of dyes and chemicals,

largely imported from China, fuelling a

spike in their input costs. The industry

that depends on Chinese dyes and

chemicals has been put into a spot

after the Olympic host shut down its

local chemical-manufacturing units be-

cause of pollution concerns.

In just over three months, prices of

dyes and chemicals imported from

China has jumped by more than 200%-

300%, hurting the only source of liveli-

hood for more than 200,000 workers

and weavers of this vital textile city of

western India.

If the escalating prices of dyes were not

enough,

the rising crude oil prices and

doublt-digit inflation has made matters

worse. Dyes, chemicals, electricity,

water and coals are the major inputs

for the textile makers of Bhiwandi.

The abnormal rise in prices of dyes and

chemicals is due to phenomenal rise in

crude oil prices, Bhiwandi is one of the

largest textiles fabric producing centers

giving employment to nearly two lakh

weavers and workers. Traders said

hoarding of key input by a section of

traders is also hurting their margins.

The industry has requested the govern-

ment to consider the industry's demand

for allotment of A grade coal at a

subsidized rate.

According to industry sources coal

prices w ill cross Rs. 7,000 per tonne by

December and if this trend will con-

tinue,

it will definitely ring the death

knell for the labour intensive and ex-

port-oriented industry.

Text i le industry

i n the red as de

mand fa l l s

Rising raw material prices, lack of

enough government support and de-

clining demand in the United States

have taken a toll on the Indian textile

industry

Thirty-three major textile companies

have reported a cumulative loss of RS.

152.21 crore in the first quarter (April-

June) of the current financial year, com-

pared with a profit of Rs. 144.56 crore

in the corresponding period of the pre-

vious financial year.

Major textile companies like Raymond

and RSWM Ltd. have reported losses,

whereas Vardhaman Textiles, Alok In-

dustries, KPR Mill and Sutlej Textiles

have witnessed a massive decline in

their profits.

The industry's performance was on the

decline even last year on account of

the dollar falling nearly 12 per cent

against the rupee. The prices of differ-

ent varieties of raw cotton rose nearly

40 per cent in 2008, with Shankar-6,

the benchmark, selling at Rs. 28,500

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