Silk sari producers, weavers concern over abnormal trend of silk yarn price

Silk saris manufacturers and weavers in Kangeyam concern over the trend of silk yarn price which has shot up abnormally and even there was no sign of decreasing as it was affecting the industry.

In Kangeyam there are around 3,000 silk handlooms operated by the weavers, producing soft silk saris and other dresses of which 90 percent of the weavers here utilise Indian-made silk yarns for weft and China-made silk yarns for warp. Rest of them utilise Indian-made silk yarns for both the weft and warp, said R Balasubramanian, advisor of Kangeyam Silk Manufacturers Association.

Now, one kilogram of weft silk yarns costs around Rs 4,300-4,500. It was only around Rs 3200-3300 five months ago. In case of warp silk yarns, it costs around Rs 5,200-5,400, which was only around Rs 4,100-4,300 five months ago.

Normally, the price fluctuations would be around Rs 200 averagely in a season in both the warp and weft silk yarns because of low production in winter season. The rate would start to come down in February.

If the governments fail to take steps to control the inflation, it will affect 4 lakh labourers including 2.5 lakh indirect labourers in the industry in the state, said the manufacturers. So, the central and state governments should intervene and reduce the silk yarn prices.

Though silks were extracted in various parts of the country, Bengaluru and few other places of Karnataka are the major market for silk yarns.

It is strongly suspected that the silk yarn manufacturers could have artificially increased the prices.