South Gujarat Textile Processors’ Association (SGTPA) has recently organised a meeting in Surat where the Textile Processors have collectively taken a decision to hike their job prices by Rs. 2 per metre for processing all types of finished fabrics. SGPTA officer said that it is happening due to the rise in the price of dyes by 25 per cent, chemical prices by 15 per cent and coal prices by Rs. 1,500 per tonne and steep rise in labour charges in the processing sector.

SGPTA is forced to increase job charges due to increasing costs of raw materials and to withstand slowdown in the processing sector, Jitu Vakharia, the association president said. The hike in job charges is likely to increase costs of finished fabrics between 50 paise to Rs. 3. Jitu said that the production of man-made fibre (MMF) fabric may pick up pace during the festival season.

The hike in job charges may impact the industry which is already witnessing a tough time, Ashish Gujarati, president of the Pandesara Weavers Cooperative Society said.

The MMF cluster of the city produces close to 2 crore metres of fabrics on a daily basis. The city boasts 6.5 lakh powerloom weaving machines and 3.5 lakh machines of those shut down in the last few months. Surat also has over 400 textile dyeing and printing mills. The powerloom sector is currently working only for 8 hours every day to limit production.

– Apparel and Textile News, Apparel Talk, Indian Apparel