The Hindu : Front Page : Mosquito net making units in trouble

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Monday, Jul 20, 2009
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Mosquito net making units in trouble

L. Renganathan

Owing to smuggling by Bangladesh manufacturers

The industry employs around 30,000 in Karur
Industry is also hit by absence of sops and under valuation

KARUR: The mosquito net manufacturing industry, suffering due to a multitude of problems, is pitted in an unequal duel with Bangladesh.

Traders from the neighbouring country sneak in mosquito net fabrics through under pricing, duty evasion and outright smuggling, thereby capturing the markets in Bihar, West Bengal, Assam and Orissa. The latest to fall is Uttar Pradesh and that has instilled fears in the minds of mosquito net manufacturers based in Karur.

Dwindling markets, shortage of skilled labour, fluctuating cost of raw material, inadequate government support and to top it all worsening power crisis all took a toll of the industry that was once thriving in Karur. While the product is mostly consumed in the domestic market a couple of units have also made forays in the international destinations.

In Karur, there are over 75 extruders of high density polyurethane (HDPE), the most important raw material for mosquito net weaving industry, utilising over 1,100 tonnes of granules a month. They manufacture HDPE filament from the raw material. They feed around 3,000 knitting looms where the filament is knitted into fabric for mosquito and fishnets. Their use gradually spread to cattle farms and in the making of tree guards.

The industry employs around 30,000 men and women and most of them are unskilled labourers. “A couple of units have started exporting finished products such as insecticide treated HDPE net to Denmark and South Africa but we have to wait and see the prospects,” industry watchers say.

With the invasion of fabric from Bangladesh, year after year the sales have been coming down, especially in the northern and northeastern states.

Bihar that accounted for close to 20 per cent of the sales has come down to almost nothing this year, while Uttar Pradesh is showing a dangerous decline in mosquito net sales.

A study of the sales pattern over the past 15 years show that only in the recent four months have the fabric manufacturing units in Karur been forced to stock products up to four months as the situation is now, laments C. Visharaj, executive committee members of the Karur Monofilament Yarn and Knitted Fabrics Manufacturers’ Association.

Absence of proper anti-dumping duties, under valuation and smuggling of fabrics from Bangladesh has directly caused a decline in consumption of domestically produced fabric, he says.

“The Central and the State Governments should consider our plea and take urgent steps to provide a level playing field,” he adds.

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