Market Survey

By: Dr Vigneshwara Varmudy : holistic upgrade for warmer future

Though India ranks third in the world in sheep stock, it has not yet shined both in the domestic as well as the external wool market. Hence efforts are needed to upgrade this sector without any delay.

ndia’s name has always been cluding goat, camel and . World production synonymous with its cot- These animal fibres are processed to ton textile industry. But few make fine products like suitings and Australia is the leading pro- know about the deep roots of knitted garments, shawls and dress ducer of wool, which is mostly from the thriving woollen indus- materials. Merino sheep. China is the second- Itry way back from the era of Indian Manufacturing fine woollen largest producer of wool followed by royalty, which has been a patron of textile products in India has been New Zealand. The total production exquisite work of arts; from finely the forte of artisans and handloom of wool in the world during 2009 embroidered jamvar shawls, to pure weavers right from Kashmir in the was 2,044,270 metric tonnes (refer wool garments and carpets. north to various manufacturing cen- Table I). Wool is the textile fibre obtained tres in Rajasthan, Punjab and Uttar Organic wool is becoming more from sheep and other animals in- Pradesh for centuries. and more popular globally. This wool

January 2012 • FACTS FOR YOU 19 Market Survey is very limited in supply and much gion. State-wise estimates of wool sion agents of wool market sell on of it comes from Australia and New production are given in Table III. It behalf of village merchants or pur- Zealand. This wool is environmen- is clear from the table that Rajas- chase it from the producers. The tally preferable to petroleum-based than ranks first followed by Jam- normal practice of wool producers as a raw material for carpets. mu and Kashmir, Karnataka and is to sell their wool per animal ba- Andhra Pradesh. sis well before the shearing season Indian scenario by taking money in advance. Speciality hair fibres Since the availability of animal The woollen industry in India is fibres except sheep wool is fluctuat- small in size as compared to hair, ing, their marketing is not organ- and synthetic fibre-based industries. and wool are the main speciality ised. These are sold and used locally. This industry provides employment hair fibres found in India. The fine- The price has also been fluctuating and source of substance to about one ness of angora rabbit hair ranges be- over the years. million people, mostly belonging to tween 12 and 14 microns. These rab- low-income group. Its expansion, bits are reared in Himachal Pradesh. Utilisation of wool particularly in khadi, handloom and Pashmina or cashmere is obtained in India carpet segments, will create more from changthangi and chenger breed and more employment opportunities goats that are famous for their soft, Of the total wool produced in In- in the future. fine and warm commercial natural dia, about 10 million kg is used in India has about 44 descript animal fibre. The details about ani- the khadi sector and other village- sheep breeds spread over a wide mal fibres viz, quality and products, range of environmental conditions. are given in Table IV. Table II The Indian sheep breeds produce wool differing in fineness. This wool Wool Production Marketing of wool in India During 1950-51 to is mainly utilised for the produc- 2010-11 tion of hand-knitted, tufted and Wool marketing in India is in handloom-woven carpets. During the hands of private wool mer- Year Production (million kg) 2010-11, India produced 43.3 mil- chants and traders. The produc- lion kilogram of raw wool. Out of ers rarely take it to the markets. A 1950-51 27.5 this, about 10 per cent was apparel- major portion of wool is purchased 1955-56 27.5 grade, 70 per cent carpet-grade and by village merchants. The commis- 1960-61 28.1 20 per cent coarse-grade. The an- 1968-69 29.8 nual growth of wool production is Table I 1973-74 30.1 marginal and has remained static 1979-80 30.9 for last ten years. The estimated World Production of Wool 1983-84 36.1 production of wool since 1950-51 up in Top 10 Countries to 2010-11 is given in Table II. in 2009 1989-90 41.7 As far as the production of wool Country Production 1993-94 39.9 is concerned, the country can be di- (metric tonnes) 1998-99 46.9 vided into four agro-climatic regions. Australia 370,601 2000-2001 48.4 The sheep population is more or less China 364,002 2001-02 49.5 spread equally in north-western New Zealand 179,242 2002-03 50.5 parts of the country covering the UK 65,393 2003-04 48.5 states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Pun- Argentina 61,491 2004-05 44.6 jab, Haryana and southern penin- Morocco 55,029 2005-06 44.9 sular region consisting of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu Sudan 54,668 2006-07 45.1 and Karnataka. Russia 54,668 2007-08 44.0 However, wool production is Syrian Arabic Republic 53,011 2008-09 42.9 more in north-western region than Pakistan 41,540 2009-10 43.2 the south. Also the wool produced Total (including others) 2,044,270 2010-11 43.3 in north-western region is finer Source: FAO STAT–United Nations Source: www.dahd.nic than that produced in southern re-

20 FACTS FOR YOU • January 2012 Market Survey based industries for manufacturing bia, Argentina and other countries. carpet wool from New Zealand and different products by hand spinning However, the major import is from other countries. Apart from this, the and weaving. About 8 million kg of New Zealand, which supplies wool country imports wool, fine or coarse raw wool is used in the organised in scoured stage. animal hair, horse hair yarn and wo- sector for manufacturing shawls ven fabrics. The total import of these and knit wears in Ludhiana and Production centres of during 2009-10 was 74,774 tonnes Amritsar. The remaining is utilised woollen goods valued at Rs 11753.5 million. On the by the carpet sector. So as to meet other hand, India exported products the domestic demand, India imports The major carpet yarn produc- worth Rs 1886.035 million during about 100 million kg from New tion centres are Bikaner (where the same period as can be observed Zealand, Italy, Turkey, Saudi Ara- about 70-80 per cent of production from Table V. takes place) followed Table III by Panipat, Bhilwara, Future of the industry Kekri, Beawar and State-wise Estimates of Wool Bhadohi. Most of the Though India ranks third in Production During 2007-08 to 2009-10 yarn produced in dif- the world in sheep stock, it has not (‘000 kg) ferent centres is sent yet shined both in the domestic as States 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 in scoured stage to well as the external wool market. Andhra Pradesh 4407 4507 4605 Bhadohi where it is Hence efforts are needed to up- Arunachal Pradesh 12 15 16 dyed in desired shades. grade this sector without any de- Bihar 241 250 260 The Indian car- lay. The following measures will be pet industry employs useful: Chhattisgarh 245 247 249 about 1.5 million work- 1. There is a need to establish Gujarat 2996 2857 2919 ers spread over a num- organised marketing system. At pre- Haryana 1121 1200 1246 ber of states. The four sent, the available wool marketing Himachal Pradesh 1607 1618 1614 major regions making system is unscientific, which is com- Jammu & Kashmir 7100 7133 7300 hard-knitted carpets pletely against the interest of wool Jharkhand 147 149 136 are Jammu & Kashmir, growers and has stunted production Karnataka 5631 7137 7165 Jaipur, Agra, Gwalior, of wool over the years. Madhya Pradesh 401 381 370 Bhadohi-Mirzapur belt 2. Effective market intervention Maharashtra 1677 1707 1726 and Warrangal. How- schemes are required. To ensure re- Punjab 435 451 485 ever, India’s major munerative price to wool growers, carpet production is at protect them against exploitation Rajasthan 15,451 12,664 12,529 Bhadohi-Mirzapur belt by the middlemen, and make avail- Sikkim 1 1 1 and Jaipur, amounting able good-quality and well-graded Tamil Nadu 25 25 31 to about 80 per cent. raw material to the wool industry, it Uttar Pradesh 1481 1503 1523 is imperative that effective market Uttarakhand 360 368 353 Imports and intervention is made by government West Bengal 680 687 697 exports agencies. Total (including others) 44,021 42,901 43,224 3. There is a need to increase the share of speciality hair. Source: State Animal Husbandry departments, www.dehd.nic India imports about 100 million kg of 4. Steps should be taken to pro- mote the growth of angora, pash- Table IV mina and yak fibre processing indus- Quality and Products of Animal Fibres try for shawl manufacturing. This growth needs to be enhanced by di- Fibre Source Fineness Product versified utilisation of knit-wear and (microns) garment sectors. Wool Sheep 22 – 60 Carpets, blankets, felts, shirting, suiting, etc 5. Research and development Pashmina Cashmere goat 10 – 15 Shawls and knit wears activities related to sheep and rab- Rabbit hair Angora rabbit 10 – 14 Shawls and knit wears bit production should be carried Yak fibre Yak 15 – 25 Shawls and knit wears out. Also, there is a need to develop technologies for the utilisation of

January 2012 • FACTS FOR YOU 21 Market Survey

Table V Import and Export of Wool and Other Products During 2009-10 (Quantity in tonnes, value in Rs million) Items Imports Exports Quantity Value Quantity Value Wool not carded or combed 68,260 10,007.7 622.82 66.09 Fine coarse animal hair 96 101.1 15.83 7.54 Waste of wool/fine coarse 1545 66.8 485.52 47.28 Garneted stock of wool 9 0.9 312.75 25.33 Wool/fine course animal hair 594 274.4 4824.26 1660.16 Yarn of carded wool not put up for retail sale 4 33.3 776.99 198.19 Yarn of combed wool not put up for retail sale 199 123.1 2871.87 1318.56 Yarn of fine animal hairs not put up for retail sales 2 8.7 776.10 162.29 Yarn of wool or fine animal hair put up for retail sales 166 35.8 44.62 16.14 Yarn of coarse animal hair 1 0.5 0.33 0.17 Woven fabrics of carded wool or of carded fine animal hair 3212 861.8 2562.63 635.39 Woven fabrics of combed wool/fine animal hair 429 203.0 5448.29 1473.79 Woven fabrics of coarse animal hair 216 36.4 18.34 4.97 Animal hair, horse hair yarn and woven fabrics, etc 74,774 11,753.5 18,860.35 5615.87 Source: DGCI & S Kolkata, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, www.dahd.nic

animal fibre and other prod- ucts. 4. The established carpet wool breeds of the country are getting diluted due to intermix- ing with heavy-bodied breeds to meet farmer’s requirement of higher body weight and mut- ton yield. Therefore incentive schemes for higher wool yield should be introduced to maintain pure-breed flocks. 5. Stress should be given to increase the fibre production per animal rather than increasing the number of animals. 6. It is difficult to increase wool production in present land utilisation pattern. The thrust should be on improving the qual- ity so that the wool can be used for quality carpet and other product manufacture.

The author is in the department of economics, Vivekananda College, Woolen sweaters Puttur

22 FACTS FOR YOU • January 2012