Business

Southern Spinning Mills Cut Cotton Purchase From Gujarat Due To Adulteration

Tamil Nadu-based textile mills have resorted to massive cut backs in cotton procurement from Gujarat, preferring to favour states like Telangana as well as Maharashtra, in order to beat adulteration of cotton by Gujarat-based ginners, according to industry sources.

Cotton from Gujarat has been adulterated with comber noil and other waste, the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) has written to the Union Textile Ministry, seeking its intervention in this regard.

Incidentally, more than 50% of the cotton used by textile mills in Tamil Nadu is from Gujarat.Tamil Nadu’s mills used to procure about 50-60 lakh bales of cotton from Gujarat alone, until the year before last. However, last year, procurement was reduced by almost 60% and diverted to other states due to adulteration, SIMA Secretary General K Selvaraju has stated.

He has stated that adulteration has been observed this year as well, attributing the practice to probably around 10% of Gujarat-based ginners. He expressed the association’s worries about farmers in Gujarat, because if prices drop due to adulteration, it will be the farmers who will be affected.

He stated that Tamil Nadu’s mills consume about 120 lakh bales of cotton annually, but only five to six lakh bales are produced by the state. The Tirupur textile cluster alone requires 60 lakh bales, most of which is sourced from Gujarat.

Last year, Tamil Nadu had committed to the government that 20 lakh bales of cotton would be brought from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu through coastal shipping, but not even one third of that quantity has been procured due to the bad quality of Gujarat cotton.

Many of the larger mills, which each require about six lakh bales of cotton, shifted their procurement to Telangana and Maharashtra. This year also, many SIMA members have indicated that they will procure cotton from other states, he said.

He stated that SIMA is keen to work with Gujarat’s ginners as a team and curtail adulteration, rather than shift procurement from the state.

Tamil Nadu-based mills can stop procurement from traders and mills known to adulterate cotton and deal only with scrupulous ginners. The government and the ginners’ association must work together to find a solution, he said.

Interestingly, prices for cotton waste like comber noil, which is used for currency printing as well as medical textiles, have also increased over the last couple of months.

From Rs 60 per kg in October, cotton waste is now sold at Rs 80 per kg, prompting Tamil Nadu based mills to allege that this is due to increased demand by ginners in Gujarat, who seem to be planning to mix the waste with virgin cotton.

However, Gujarat-based cotton ginners do not seem to be worried about Tamil Nadu’s textile mills shifting their procurement to other statesas only about 20% of cotton produced in Gujarat is sold to mills in South India.

Earlier, the demand was more but now consumption by local mills has increased along with export orders. By later this year, about 40 spinning units are expected to come up in Gujarat alone, which will increase the state’s consumption to 65 lakh bales.

He stated that adulteration is prevalent in Gujarat, but local mill owners know from whom to buy. Since cotton quality has been lowered, prices too are lower.

Adulteration is not unique to Gujarat and even in Maharashtra, waste is mixed with raw cotton, he said.