‘Recycled textile sector under strain as waste cotton prices surge’

COIMBATORE: The recycled textile industry is facing mounting pressure due to a sharp rise in waste cotton prices, said M Jayapal, president of the Recycle Textile Federation.

Indian cotton for the 2025-26 season opened in November at Rs 51,000 per candy and is currently trading at Rs 56,000. When cotton prices peaked at Rs 56,000 per candy in September, spinning mills sold comber waste, the key raw material for open-end (OE) mills, at Rs 102 per kg. Since then, comber waste prices have steadily climbed to Rs 123–125 per kg, despite only moderate fluctuations in cotton prices.

Jayapal said the increase in raw material costs has not been matched by a rise in yarn prices. During Diwali, OE yarn was sold at around Rs 165 per kg for 20s warp and Rs 148–150 for weft. Now, even with a Rs 23 per kg jump in waste cotton prices, mills are forced to sell warp yarn below Rs 165 and weft below Rs 155 per kg, resulting in continued losses over the past three months.

Labour shortages, rising production costs and weak demand for 30s count yarn have further hit operations, pushing many mills to cut capacity or shift to hosiery yarn. More than 100 mills have exited grey yarn production in the last two years.

The federation has urged the Centre and state govt to introduce a transparent tender system for cotton waste sales to protect MSMEs and safeguard livelihoods across the textile value chain.