Now textile traders in Surat to go on strike

Over 450 textile processing units have already gone on an indefinite strike

Giving a shot in the arm to the striking processing units, textile traders in Surat are now mulling going on strike as well. With a daily loss of Rs 80-100 crore incurred by members of the Federation of Surat Textile Traders' Association (FOSTTA), the association may also go on strike soon.

"As of now, we have extended our support to the South Gujarat Processors Association (SGPA) on their strike against gas price hike. However, such has been an impact on the whole textile value chain here in Surat that we are also planning to go on strike to push for rollback of the gas price hike," said Devkishan Manghani, president of FOSTTA.

Over 450 textile processing units have already gone on an indefinite strike as a protest against Gujarat Gas Company Limited (GGCL) for hiking natural gas prices, which the units source from the company. GGCL had hiked prices from Rs 11.50 to Rs 16.64 per standard cubic metres, impacting textile processing as well as chemical units in Surat, wherein the units hold nearly 90 per cent share of the country's total textile processing.

According to industry estimates, the Surat-based industry processes around 4.5 crore meters of synthetic cloth including synthetic sarees and dress materials.

On its part, FOSTTA is likely to see around 50,000 of its member traders joining the strike in the synthetic textile hub of Surat. Moreover, according to Manghani, over 500,000 workers are indirectly associated with FOSTTA who are also likely to be part of the strike.

The textile processing industry, which has a capacity of 45 million metres per day of grey cloth, is incurring a daily revenue loss of Rs 150 crore. The industry, uses around one million standard cubic metres per day.

A BG group company, GGCL gets Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RNLG) from Panna Mukta Tapi (PMT) gas fields near Mumbai offshore.

But the supplies from the PMT fields halved recently from what the company received earlier, resulting into a shortage in the gas supplies to the industry. This prompted the company to buy costly imported gas to meet the demand.

Apart from textile processing units, it is also around 800 chemical units that source fuel in the form of natural gas from GGCL.

However, the chemical industry is yet to take a call on the price hike.

According to Pramod Chaudhary, president of SGPA, gas prices for the industry units have risen by more than 10 per cent since January. Apparently, the imported LNG, costs around $7 per MMBTU against $4.2 under the administered price mechanism (APM).

A delegation of the striking unit-owners led by SCCI have met the state industries minister, Saurabh Patel to make a representation of their concerns.

Moreover, in a rally joined by thousands associated with the industry a memorandum was also submitted to Gujarat Gas as well as collector of Surat against the price hike on Wednesday.