TIRUPUR exporters demanding ban on cotton and cotton yarn exports

Unprecedented increase in cotton prices has forced
garment industry stakeholders in Tirupur, the knitwear hub of
the country, to adopt resolutions demanding suspension of
cotton and cotton yarn exports for three months among other
things.
According to associations of stakeholders of Tirupur garment
sector, the high increase in the cotton yarn prices has
significantly affected the knitwear garment sector of Tirupur and
sustenance of stakeholders has become increasingly difficult as
a result.
A meeting of the stakeholders of the garment sector held on
Tuesday in Tirupur presided over by Dr A Sakthivel, president of
Tirupur Exporters Association, adopted several resolutions to
seek protection for the textile industry.
The meeting said as the cotton exports have already crossed
90 lakh bales. The cotton yarn exports touched 590 million kg
in the first five months. The cotton yarn advisory board has
estimated only 1000 million kg of cotton yarn exports for the
whole year. Moreover, 60% of cotton yarn exports are destined
for competing countries like China and Bangladesh ultimately
giving stiff competition to country's garment exports. The
meeting wanted both exports to be suspended for three months.
The other resolutions are that Cotton Corporation of India
should sell cotton only to actual users and not to the traders, a
request to the associations of mills to advice their members to
slash the cotton yarn prices by Rs 8 per kg to Rs 10 per kg and
roll back to the price level in last month and that the
associations do not have any objection to the farmers getting
right price for the cotton produced by them.
The meeting decided to send the resolutions to the Prime
Minister, and the union ministers handling finance, commerce,
textiles and agriculture. If the government does not concede to
their demands, the associations will meet and decide on the
next course of action. The conference also appealed to the
Central government to implement free trade agreement with EU
nations to increase exports from Tirupur.