TN Open-End Mills On Strike For Second Time in Four Months
For the second time in four months, Tamil Nadu open-end spinning mills will shutdown from November 7 to 30. Weavers in Tirupur and Coimbatore districts too have decided to go on strike from November 5.
While speaking with the press, G. Arulmozhi, President of the Open-End Spinning Mills’ Association said there are 600 open-end spinning mills in Tamil Nadu, which produce yarns amounting to Rs 60 crore per day.
He added that for the past six months, the mills are running at 50 percent capacity due to which losses are mounting and so they have decided to stop production.
Giving details, G. Arulmozhi said their raw material which is cotton waste is bought from spinning mills.
“The cotton price is Rs 160 per kg and so price of waste cotton should be Rs 97 per kg. Instead of which it is Rs 115 per kg. So, waste cotton prices should fall by Rs 20 per kg to make our mills viable,” he stated.
“We are selling open-end yarn between Rs 140-150 per kg, a price prevailing five years ago. But at the same time, various costs like power, labour, and raw materials have increased multi-fold,” G. Arulmozhi informed.
He pointed out that open-end spinning mills in Haryana are able to sell their yarn at 30 percent lower prices than those in Tamil Nadu.
“This is because of the very high cost of electricity in Tamil Nadu, which is affecting the financial viability of the mills and affecting their operations,” he mentioned.
G. Arulmozhi also demanded that the Tamil Nadu government should reduce the electricity rates and also demanded that the central government should control or stop export of waste cotton.
