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BANGALORE, Aug 11

IN a bid to arrest the falling cocoon prices, the Centre, in collaboration with the Karnataka Government, is planning to offer a minimum support price (MSP) ranging from Rs 60-120 per kg, from this month, the Union Minister of State for Textiles, Mr Basangouda R Patil, has said.

Mr Patil told reporters that the MSP for cocoons was being offered from a Rs 15 crore price stabilisation fund, being set up the Centre and State with equal contribution. The MSP is expected to help mitigate the silk growers' losses, as prices of cocoons and raw silk have nosedived over the last six months.

Meanwhile, the Government is planning to restore the earlier import duty on rawsilk to 44.04 per cent, from the present 35 per cent introduced in April this year, he said. The Textiles Ministry has taken up the issue with the Finance Ministry, he added.

He said imports were necessary to meet the shortfall in country's raw silk demand, which stood at 7-8,000 tonnes. While the country's silk production stood at around 17,000 tonnes, the total demand is pegged at about 25,000 tonnes, Mr Patil added.

The Textiles Ministry has hiked the Tenth Plan outlay for the sericulture sector by nearly 61 per cent to Rs 565 crore, Mr Patil said. The outlay for Ninth Plan stood at Rs 350 crore. The hike in outlay was aimed at making the country's sericulture more competitive and gear up for the free-trade regime.

The emphasis during the Tenth Plan would be on improving both quality and quantity of the silk, he said.

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