Expressing concern over the ‘abnormal increase in yarn prices’ even after the waiver of the import duty on cotton, the Karur Textile Manufacturer Exporters’ Association has urged the Centre to ban export of cotton and cotton yarn.

The association also urged the government to bring cotton/ cotton yarn under the essential commodities list and monitor the production and sales to avoid artificial demand.

The association expressed surprise and concern over the continuing rise in yarn prices. Even after the removal of 11 per cent import duty on cotton, the yarn prices are increasing abnormally. Mills increased yarn prices on April 15 and surprisingly again on April 22nd the yarn prices were increased by a minimum of ₹10 per kg. Earlier, the mills used to fix yarn prices once in a month. But from June last year, they started doing it fortnightly. But over the past three months there is no specific schedule for revision and most of the mills increase the yarn prices every week, said P. Gopalakrishnan, President

Since the second quarter of 2021, the Karur cluster was facing a lot of challenges due to various factors, especially the abnormal increase in prices of yarn. Up to December 2021, the yarn prices had increased by more than 40 per cent. Up to April 25 this year, the yarn prices have increased by another 50 per cent. Some yarn counts have increased more than 100% when compared to the yarn price in 2020. The entire textile industry had been hoping that the recent decision of the Centre to waive import duty on cotton would help bring down the prices, he added.