Tirupur Exporter's Association demands knitwear exports increase prices by 10%

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jul 19, 2018

The Tirupur Exporter's Association (TEA) has asked for a price increase of at least ten percent from knitwear industrialists’ garment exports in order to address inflation in the industry.

The TEA recently decided at its executive committee meeting in Tirupur that it would implore the city’s knitwear businesses to increase prices by ten percent.

The knitted garment industry in Tirupur has been experiencing increasing prices since the implementation of the new goods and services tax (GST) in July 2017.

Cotton yarn, job-working services, and accessories have all become more expensive and this is putting a strain on the industry.

Cotton prices have increased by around Rs 17-18 per kilogram and the TEA does not predict that this trend will end soon. The TEA has also asked the Union Government to take steps to regulate prices to address this.

Fabric dyeing prices have also increased by around 20 percent due to price increases in dyes. This has in turn caused other services to become increasing more expensive, including accessories.

"With such situation, the continuation of same prices for finished garments would certainly lead to a difficult situation to sustain in the business,” the TEA’s President, Raja M Shanmugham, told TNN.

“So, our executive committee unanimously decided to ask the knitwear units to send communication to their buyers to increase garment prices by 10% while finalising new orders."

"It was the first time that the association took such a decision because of the abnormal market situation prevailing now,” said Shanmugham. “We are not sure whether knitwear companies would take up the call [to increase prices] simply after the association's suggestion. But the decision was taken to enlighten the companies to take a collective effort to persuade foreign buyers to provide reasonable prices."