Cotton mills cut output

NEW DELHI: Cotton spinning mills has decided to cut output ranging from one-third to two-fifth of total production to reduce accumulated stocks and raise prices.

Millers have demanded a host of sops, including loans at discounted rates and input duty reimbursement on exports to help them get over their current period of crisis. They also wants the government to curtail export of cotton for some more time to ensure cheap availability of raw material, a demand that has been contested by cotton growers and traders.

The mills had cut back production by one third of the existing daily production last week and shut down facilities on May 23 to protest against falling domestic prices and building up of unsold stocks. "The cut back in production resulted in accumulated losses of Rs 600 crores as the value of per day spinning production is about Rs 200 crore," said DK Nair, secretary general, Confederation of Indian Textile Industry .

The list of demands put forward by the industry includes one year's moratorium for repayment of loans to spinning mills, reinstatement of drawback facility on cotton yarn exports and extension of 2%interest subvention for all textile and clothing products.