Gujarat, which has long been a hub for premium cotton for textile mills in Tamil Nadu, in the wake of increased adulteration with substances like comber noil and other cotton waste by Gujarat?s ginners, has drastically cut back their cotton procurement.
The Southern India Mills? Association (SIMA) seeks the Union Textile Ministry intervention in this regard. Till the year before last, Tamil Nadu?s mills used to procure about 50-60 lakh bales from Gujarat alone. Last year, owing to adulteration, procurement was reduced by almost 60 per cent and shifted to other states. This year, they are seeing a similar trend. Probably the practice of adulteration is only followed by 10 per cent of ginners in Gujarat, but as an association, they are worried about farmers in Gujarat.