Conference on cotton industry in Coimbatore from Aug 12

Various issues and challenges faced by the Cotton Industry, including contamination and supply of quality cotton to the end users, would come up for discussions in a 2-day conference beginning here on August 12. The conference titled 'Indian Cotton Scenario in the Current Context 2014-15', is being organised by Indian Cotton Federation (ICF) in which nearly 400 persons are expected to participate. Despite the increase in cotton production in the country, the demand for the major raw material to the textile industry would also match it and the end-using industry would require quality cotton to match the finished products from the competing countries, P Nataraj, Chairman of Conference, told reporters here today. Of late, due to increased production, there was lot of contamination in the cotton and ginners were facing problems due to this, he said, adding, this was also affecting the spinners,supplying yarns to apparel and garment manufacturers, whose products were also rejected some time, by overseas buyers. As cotton was a major material for the textile value chain, the conference, would be a platform for all the stakeholders, from farmers to the end users, J Thulasidharan, President, ICF, said. Another major problem being faced was the logistics, particularly Tamil Nadu who consumed nearly 50 per cent of the cotton produced in the country, as it has to bring the raw material from major growing centres like Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, he said. The conference would be a platform for the stakeholders to discuss one to one and solve the problems, he said, adding that other problems would be represented to both the State and Central governments, through resolutions. The conference will honour three doyens of cotton industry - Mohit Shah, the first Indian to be the president of International Cotton Association, Suresh Kotak, for lifetime service in promotion the industry and Bhadresh Mehta, the largest turnover for exporters in the World, K N Vishwanathan, Vice-president, ICF, said