Better cotton output industry plans expansion

摘要

Increase in cotton production coupled with favourable weather conditions this year have prompted factory owners to chalk out expansion plans and raised hopes of the Indian textile industry. Farmers, traders, cotton factory owners, yarn manufacturers and garment manufacturers are ecstatic over the production estimates at 32.5 million bales (2010-11) as compared to 29.5 million bales last year. The chairman of Vardhman group, S P Oswal is confident of smooth implementation of his expansion plans. Vardhman consumes about one million bales of cotton (almost 3 per cent of the country's total production of cotton) in a year and has new proejcts in the pipeline. Like Oswal, the entire supply chain of cotton textile industry in India is optimistic over the prospects of better cotton harvest this year. While the pre-monsoon showers (result of cyclone Phet) in Punjab and Haryana helped the farmers by saving the crop from excessive heat, farmers in the excessive heat, farmers in the coastal heat, farmers in the coastal areas of Gujarat benefited as they can sow the crop in advance, said Arun Dalai in trader from Gujarat. Jaglar Singh Mehma, a progressive farmer in the Bhatinda belt of Punjab (with large tracts of cotton fields) said rain will help in dissolving salt accumulation in the soil that arrests sappling growth. The temperature at an unprecedented 45 degrees in the northern states, which contribute about 12 per cent of the country's cotton output, was adversely affecting the crop. The ginning factory owners expect to scale up their capacity utilisation by 10-15 per cent this year because of a better cotton crop.