K`taka to get five reeling machines from China

Each of the imported reeling machine would cost Rs 1 crore. While the Central Silk Board would bear 50 per cent of the cost, the state government would bear the rest.

Setting up of one reeling machine, along with the required infrastructure will need an additional Rs 2 crore that has to be borne by the private silk reelers interested in setting up such units.

 

It is estimated that the use of five automatic reeling units would increase the output of superior quality bivoltine silk by 25-30 per cent.

At present, Karnataka produces about 400 metric tonnes of bivoltine silk per year, about one-third of the bivoltine silk production in the country. Each of the automatic reeling machine is capable of processing 700 kg of cocoons per day and producing 34 metric tonnes of bivoltine silk per year.

Karnataka produced 8,240 metric tonnes of silk for the year 2007-08, a growth of 4.5 per cent compared with the previous year. Currently, the state accounts for about 50 per cent of the country's total output, which is around 18,000 metric tonnes.

Of the 10 machines to be imported, one is already commissioned at Hyderabad and will be inaugurated on Tuesday, H Hanumanthappa, Chairman, Central Silk Board told Business Standard on the sidelines of a press meet held here on Monday.

Another machine will be set up in Tamil Nadu in the next fifteen days. Of the proposed five machines for Karnataka, two will be inaugurated within a month, one each at Chennapattana and Ramanagar.

Bivoltine silk is more smooth and uniform in quality. While Indian silk production is by far composed of multivoltine variety, the Chinese silk, posing a major threat to the Indian silk, is bivoltine.

Apart from producing finer quality silk, the imported reeling units are also expected to strengthen the backward linkages wherein farmers get better market for their cocoons. India imports about 5,500 metric tonnes silk in a year from China.