The Hindu : Front Page : Will knitwear sector survive this round of crisis?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 07, 2006

Front Page

Front Page

Will knitwear sector survive this round of crisis?

M. Gunasekaran

BURNING PROBLEM: A worker feeding firewood to a boiler at dyeing unit in Tirupur. - Photo: M. Balaji

TIRUPUR: It is really a burning problem for the knitwear industry of Tirupur. The sudden shortage in supply of firewood has led to a sharp rise in prices and pushed the processing sector into fresh trouble.

Apart from yarn, water, dyes and other stuff, firewood also finds a prominent place in making garments. It is an important input to the processing industry - right from the dyeing and bleaching units to the steam calendaring and compacting units (these units undertake controlling shrinkage and ironing the fabric.)

Spiralling prices

"The price of firewood has always been stable till recently. But for the last several months, probably due to flood, the supply has gone down and prices are spiralling,'' says V. Murugesan, secretary of the Tirupur Steam Calendaring Association.

The price of Karuvelan, a most favourite item in terms of cheap price and higher energy utility, has touched a new high. "It was around Rs.1,900 per tonne last year. Now the price has crossed Rs.3,200 a tonne, says Mr. Murugesan. According to industry sources, over 100 tonnes of firewood are required for the 120 steam calendaring units while it was 300 tonnes for the 250 compacting units every day. Based on the capacity of the dyeing factory, it requires between two and six tonnes of firewood everyday to each factory. All put together over 2,000 tonnes of firewood are required .

M.V. Ramasamy of Sri Karunambika Knit Finishers says they are sourcing the firewood from Karaikkudi, Thiruppathur, Ramanathapuram, Tiruvannamalai, Vellakkoil and other areas.

The industry now thinks of going in for non-conventional energy, particularly solar energy. "If the government popularises it through extending incentives many of us will go in for it. Though we could use the firewood in the final stages to produce heat to create steam, we can adopt solar energy for initial heat of up to 80 degree Celsius,'' Mr. Murugesan said. Tree felling also can be avoided if the industry uses solar energy.

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