Texturising units cut output 30%

Lack of demand from textile units, migration of workers force the move

Faced with severe lack of demand, the texturising industry, an important part of the Surat textile industry, has cut production by 30 per cent.

Though the texturisers are hopeful of an improvement in the situation in the new fiscal, a bulk of them have opted for a five-day week since the last one month.

There are about 450 texturising units in and around Surat which produce 700-800 tonne of texturised yarn daily. There are about 1200 texturising machines in these units.

With the cut in production, the daily average production now stands in the range of 500 to 600 tonne.

"The situation of the texturisers is bad because of the recession in the textile industry. If the overall textile industry improves, texturising will also improve," a leading texturiser said.

Industry sources also attribute the slowness in the textile industry to the Holi-Dhuleti festival, which sees about 30 to 35 per cent of the total labour force migrating to their home towns.

The texturisers have also adopted a cautious approach in purchase of POY (partially oriented yarn, which is texturised) in spite of the fact that its prices have gone down.

"In March, the rotation of money gets affected and, with the system of advance payment, texturisers have applied brakes on purchases because they do not want to block their money," a leading POY dealer said.

Prices of POY have gone down and industry sources said these prices are the lowest in the past one-month. The current prices of some of the leading deniers like 140, 100 and 110 were Rs 83, Rs 90 and Rs 88 per kg, respectively, a far cry from the days of Rs 100 plus per kg.

However, the weavers have not been able to get the maximum advantage of this price cut as the spinners have opted for the price cut in a phased manner by opting for a cut of Rs two per kg at periodic intervals.

On the other hand, with the phenomenon of bankruptcies raising its ugly head once again, and many firms going for a spin, the weavers are apprehensive of supplying their grey fabrics.

"Everyone wants to play safe as many have burnt their fingers. If the payment were made in advance then many weavers would prefer to suffer a loss of 25 paise per metre and supply their fabrics rather than give their goods on credit and lose everything," an industry source said.