Cotton Fiber Sector Development in India Is Urgently Needed
July 26, 2022 Cotton fiber is gaining attention globally and in the mainstream media in India due to high volatility in the market.
The spinning sector in India and globally are witnessing a severe price squeeze due to high price and less demand. Within a year since July 2021, the cotton price shot up by 50%. For example, last year about this time, MCU-5 cotton was selling at Rupees 59,000/Candy, while today’s price is about Rupees 89,000/Candy. One candy is about 355.62 Kgs.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Jayalakshmi Textiles in Aruppukottai to witness firsthand the situation in a spinning industry.
Executives of Jayalakshmi Textiles and Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar (second from left) with an imported cotton bale from the U.S. (Photo: Dr. Seshadri Ramkumar)
In a candid discussion with Shanmugam Velmurugan, General Manager of the 70,000-spindle mill, it became evident that the cotton sector from the farm level must gear up to meet the challenges faced by the spinning industry.
First, yield improvement must be immediately enhanced, states Velmurugan. Although having the largest acreage dedicated to cotton, India has the lowest productivity/hectare – about 462 Kgs/hectare as against the United States at 1000 Kgs/hectare. This necessitates seed improvements with latest biotechnology traits to counter issues from drought and pests.
The second aspect is focusing on the variability within the region in terms of fiber quality. Seed companies, state and national level agricultural agencies, and industry must collaborate with farmers in planting uniform varieties to have better control on fiber variabilities. Velmurugan says that when doing bulk purchase of cotton by mills, variation in varieties from field to field causes issues regarding quality. Farmers have to be better engaged so that some control on regional variations can be achieved.
The third aspect is focusing on contamination at farm and gin levels. In addition to machine clearing at blowrooms in spinning mills, the industry has to have manual inspection and cleaning to have better contamination control. Four to five people are normally employed per shift for this operation. Contamination arises due to packaging materials made using plastic and jute, food packings, and other materials due to the manual handling of fiber. Awareness creation is needed to counter these issues in addition to machine level interventions.
Another aspect for the development is to focus on enhancing fiber quality. The Indian industry has, so far, focused on length, micronaire, strength, and color. Jayalakshmi Textiles has recently started focusing on other properties such as elongation. This necessitates the importance of HVI testing of fiber at mills. Mills in India normally do 20% testing of bales using HVI. Jayalakshmi Textiles consumes 40,000 bales, yet only about 8,000 bales are evaluated using high volume instruments using HVI and AFIS.
“Since we started purchasing cotton from the United States, we pay attention to fiber elongation,” states Velmurugan. Fiber elongation is important for fiber performance in spinning and weaving with reduced breaks. Even a 2% increase in fiber elongation matters, notes Velmurugan. Cotton breeding should focus on fiber quality and not only on yield.
During my recent trip to India, I have been promoting the use of quality testing and the availability of reliable and timely data. Stakeholders must first create the awareness on the importance of timely and reliable data involving production and quality. State and national agencies should interact regularly with farmers and the end-users during the planting season to have a better handle on the data, weather, and agronomical aspects.
The cotton revolution in India should begin at the farm level with input from stakeholders such as end-users, say apparel makers and brands. The current high volatility situation opens up opportunity to focus on long-term planning for the cotton sector from fiber to the fashion supply chain.
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