Spinning mills fret over clamp on CU India from certifying organic textiles

Industry bodies move global accreditation body IOAS, seeking a relief; organic cotton contributes to 10% of the total cotton produced in the country

In a major hit to spinning mills in Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country, the International Organic Accreditation Service (IOAS) suspended the Control Union (CU) India last week from testing and sampling Indian organic textile products, on charges of irregularities in its certification process. Now, the industry bodies have approached the global accreditation body seeking a relief in the matter.

The Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association (TASMA) has approached IOAS, Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) and Textile Exchange for relief in this regard, asking them to allow the use of organic cotton or textile products certified by Control Union (CU) India before March 3. At present, organic cotton contributes to around 10 per cent of the total cotton produced in the country, according to the Tamilnadu Spinning Mills Association (Tasma).

“We request that the products of our member mills--organic cotton or organic cotton yarn or any other value-added product--which were made from the organic cotton that was already certified by the Control Union, whether with the Certification of the Control Union or Transaction Certificate of the Control Union issued prior to March 3, may not be anyway disturbed for any reason and the status quo may be ordered as such,” said K Venkatachalam, chief advisor, Tasma, in a letter to IOAS, GOTS and Textile exchange. 

The association added that for sourcing organic cotton in future, its members will try to identify new accreditation bodies.

Production of organic cotton in India was 1.23 million metric tonnes (MMT), or 51 per cent of the global output of 2.40 MMT. Other major organic cotton producing countries include China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Tajikistan, the US, Tanzania, Uganda, Greece, Benin, Peru, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Egypt, Ethiopia, Brazil, Mali and Argentina.

“The accreditation granted to Control Union for issuing organic cotton certificates and transaction certificates, was suspended with effect from March 3, due to which even certified organic cotton sourced prior to March 3, based on the certificates already issued by the Control Union, is facing severe issues at all levels of value addition,” Venkatachalam added.