Sisspa seeks duty-free cotton imports

Coimbatore: South India Small Spinners Association (Sisspa) has expressed concern over spurt in raw cotton prices and blamed it on middlemen and cotton trade who, it alleged, had resorted to stocking to cause the `artificial' shortage of the natural fibre.

The raw cotton prices in the past one month has gone up by Rs 2,000 per candy. It is surprising that cotton prices should record such a surge in short time especially when production has been projected to be another bounty at 270 lakh bales, the association said in a communication.

Even as the raw cotton prices soared by 15 per cent, the spinning mills were faced with stockpiling of yarn and the consequent fall in yarn prices which had caused severe strain on the working of the mills. If the situation was allowed to continue, it would badly affect the spinning industry, the association said.