Powerlooms in Tamil Nadu numbering over seven lakh will stop production during the 12-hour night shift from September 10 to protest against the increasing cotton and yarn prices.

They are also demanding a ban on cotton export, a senior representative of the Federation of Powerloom Associations of India has said.

The textile industry is in doldrums due to the escalation of raw cotton and cotton yarn prices in the last two months, M.S. Mathivanan, federation President, told reporters here yesterday.

He said within two months, the prices of raw cotton price have increased from Rs 39,000 to Rs 55,000 for a candy (356 kilogram weight).

The prices have increased by 15-20 per cent. “Due to fall in the value of Indian currency against the US dollar, export of raw cotton and yarn has gone up by 8 per cent.”

Last year, 115 lakh kg yarn was exported and this year 125 lakh kg of yarn has already been exported.

To compound the woes, the rupee value has also depreciated against the dollar. Hence, he has appealed to the Union Government to ban the export of raw cotton and yarn immediately.

To register their protest, he said production of textiles would be stopped for 12 hours a day (one shift 8 p.m.-8 a.m.) from September 10.

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