Russia-Ukraine tension impacts cotton yarn prices in south India

Among other factors that led to the decline in cotton yarn prices today were the weakening of cotton prices, and poor demand in downstream industry. According to traders, poor demand of fabric shows slow manufacturing activities in readymade garment (RMG) units.

Powerloom owners were operating with very limited capacity as demand from garment units was still very limited. Hundreds of powerlooms in Bhiwandi and Ichalkaranji were running in single shift instead of three shifts in a day.

Fabric manufacturers have to keep their units running in order to provide least work for contracted workers. Although, this results in mounting their inventory due to poor lifting of clothes from garment units.

In Mumbai market, yarn prices fell down by ₹3-5 per kg as demand weakened further. 60 count carded cotton yarn of warp and weft varieties were traded at ₹1,925-1,980 per 5 kg and ₹1,720-1,800 per 5 kg respectively. 80 count carded cotton yarn of weft variety was sold at ₹1,870-1,900 per 4.5 kg. Carded cotton yarn (44/46 count) of warp variety was traded steady at ₹1,740-1,800 per 5 kg.

Trade sources from Tiruppur market also said that buying from exporters and domestic manufacturers was still very low. The market noted down fall of ₹3-5 per kg in prices of few varieties of cotton yarn. 30 count combed cotton yarn was traded at ₹360-370 per kg, 34 count combed at ₹370-375 per kg and 40 count combed at ₹395-405 per kg. Cotton yarn of 30 count carded was sold at ₹320-325 per kg, 34 count carded at ₹330-335 per kg and 40 count carded at ₹340-350 per kg, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market insight tool TexPro.

In the global market, ZCE cotton yarn May 2022 futures traded lower by CNY 95 at CNY 28,315 per ton and September 2022 traded down by CNY 70 at CNY 27,915 per MT today. ZCE cotton March declined by CNY 15 to CNY 21,720 per MT and May contract traded down by CNY 55 to CNY 21270 per MT. ICE cotton remained closed on Monday.

Meanwhile, cotton prices fell by ₹500-800 per candy of 356 kg in Gujarat on Tuesday amid weak demand from mills, while daily arrivals dropped. As per traders, cotton prices remained soft as mills are adopting a wait-and-watch policy due to the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine. 29 mm cotton was traded at ₹77,000-77,500 per candy. A grade cotton was sold at ₹77,000-77,200, B grade variety at ₹76,000-76,500 and average grade cotton at ₹75,000-75,500 per candy. V797 variety cotton was quoted at ₹43,500-44,500 per candy.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)