The Hindu Business Line : Cotton fibre quality worries consumers

THE size of the cotton crop projected for the current year may be staggering but if one goes by the market information, there may be problems with the quality of the fibre.

Informed cotton trade circles say key cotton varieties from Gujarat, Punjab and Rajasthan and a good portion of the crop from Maharashtra that have been harvested and marketed so far display a markedly lower fibre quality - both in terms of fibre length and micronaire value (fineness) - compared to the previous years.

The declined fibre quality is quite visible in this year's Shankar-4 or the V-797 varieties harvested from Gujarat, though the fibre quality of the MCU-5 from Andhra Pradesh appears to be good, the source told Business Line.

As against the expected fibre length of Gujarat cotton (Shankar-6) at 28mm plus which is the market favoured fibre length, the variety during the current year so far is said to have yielded a lower fibre length characteristic and this measures only in the 27-28 mm range. This will mean that the spinners using this cotton will be able to spin it for the count range 30s-34s and not for spinning the 40s count.

The market sources say of the estimated output of 50 lakh bales of Shankar-6 variety from Gujarat , already about 6 lakh bales have hit the market and all these have displayed a low fibre quality. The market view is that if the consumers are presented with a huge crop to relish, then they have to contend with the phenomenon of a drop in fibre quality.

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