India’s loose cotton consumption dropped steeply from 26.10 lakh bales (each of 170 kg) in 2010-11 to 5.45 lakh bales in 2019-20.

A survey conducted by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International School of Textiles and Management, Coimbatore, revealed that loose cotton consumption dropped considerably during the review period.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the average consumption of loose cotton this year has been adversely impacted by 25 per cent i.e. equivalent quantity of 1.82 lakh bales in view of general conditions of reduced economic activities,” the survey findings said. It also added that in a non-covid year, loose cotton consumption in the country could have been the equivalent to 7.27 lakh bales. Notably, loose cotton is priced a little lower than the prevailing benchmark cotton prices.

Lotton doesn’t find significant consumption in the cotton value-chain, but it is consumed by the unorganised pilow and cotton mattress makers, users in hospital setting besides household consumption for religious rituals.

Atul Ganatra, President, Cotton Association of India (CAI), told BusinessLine that the main reasons for drop in loose consumption include higher transportation cost compared to ginned-processed ready bales. Also, loose cotton faced contamination issues due to its packaging.

Further, with introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST), the unregistered cash transactions for loose cotton has gone down drastically. Also, mechanisation in the processing has also reduced consumption of loose cotton.

comment COMMENT NOW