Open End Spinning Mills on five-day production stoppage

Protesting against the increased raw material price of waste cotton, Open End Spinning Mills Association (OSMA) in Tamil Nadu began their five day agitation by stopping production Wednesday.

"A total of 180 mills are participating in the stoppage of production, which would result in production loss of 10 lakh kg grey yarn per day, worth Rs 15 crore," OSMA president Jayabal told reporters here.

He said the association was forced to resort to this step as the state government had failed to respond to their repeated requests and representations to remove the one per cent market cess on waste cotton.

The grey yarn is used to make towels and bedsheets in Coimbatore, Tirupur and Erode districts, he said, adding that the price of waste cotton has shot up by Rs 24 per kg from Rs 70 four months ago to Rs 94 at present, he said.

OSMA also wanted imposition of a minimum export duty to ensure a level paying field in the country, he said.

Another major demand was to not to have packing charges levied by spinning mills for purchase of waste cotton, a system which was in vogue only in Tamil Nadu, Jayabal said.