Better business prospects attract cotton ginners from Gujarat to Maharashtra

Saurashtra (Gujarat), Apr 9 (ANI): Cotton ginners from Gujarat's Saurashtra region have decided to venture into Maharashtra and set up cotton ginning businesses in various parts of the state.

The ginners say that after the introduction of BT-6 cotton in India, there is no difference in the quality of cotton from Gujarat and Maharashtra. They say that the price difference between cotton from the two states is also rapidly reducing.

"Seventy-five percent of cotton processing in Gujarat is done in Saurashtra. Out of the total 900 ginners in Gujarat, around 650 are based in Saurashtra. Therefore, there is the problem of disparity amongst cotton ginners in Saurashtra. Also, around 1,000-1,200 trucks of unprocessed cotton arrive from Maharashtra to Gujarat but none reaches Saurashtra. Therefore, about 25-30 Saurashtra ginners have set up plants in Maharashtra and in the coming year, 30-40 more are expected to go," said Bharat Wala, President of the Saurashtra Ginning Association.

The ginners say that ginning in Maharashtra is more cost effective as compared to Saurashtra.

"Low cotton prices definitely are one of the major concerns. Plus labour is cheaper over there (in Maharashtra) because in Gujarat we don't get labour; we have to get it from other states, while in Maharashtra has their own labour, " said Kunal Ashwin Matani, Director of Shalibhadra Cotton Limited.

Ginners say that in Gujarat, 2.6 million hectares of land is under cotton production, which yields around 30 million bales of cotton every year.

At the most it may increase up to 10 percent. Maharashtra on the other hand has 3.2 million hectares of land under cotton production and has the potential to increase even more. (ANI)