Ludhiana: The garment and textile industries have been hit hard by the rapid rise in yarn prices, which has resulted in an increase in their production costs. According to businessmen, the rate has risen from 30% to 40%, and both the federal and state governments would be in dire straits if they do not intervene as soon as possible.
“The rate of yarn used in shawl manufacturing has increased by more than Rs 150 per kg in the past few months. Acrylic yarn, which is mostly used by our industry, earlier cost Rs 240-Rs 250 per kg, but now its price has shot up to Rs 370 per kg. Despite such huge increase in our cost of production, we have not increased the rates of our products and are absorbing the losses rather than passing them on to our customers. Our repeated attempts to convince the yarn manufacturers to drop the rates have failed. They blame the rise on the increase in the rate of the raw material used by them, but there is no evidence to prove it. Now it is up to the Central and the state governments to help us, else our industry will be destroyed.” said Hemant Abbi, executive member of the Moti Nagar United Factory Association.
Sanju Dhir, chairman of Ludhiana Woollen Manufacturers’ Association, said, “The average increase in the rates of yarns has been 30-40%, while there are some yarns that have witnessed a price increase of 100%. This is an unprecedented situation for our industry, as earlier too the rates increased, but after a while they came down. But this time, the rates have only been increasing for several months. We have written a letter to the ministry of textiles, seeking intervention.”
