• PAGE ONE
• INDEX
• HOME

Wool industry asked to scale up growth

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Sept. 19

THE recent terrorist attacks in the US, which is the second largest consumer of wool products next to Japan, would have an impact on the global wool textile industry, according to the Chairman of the Woolmark Company, Mr Rodney Price.

Winding up his two-day visit to India after taking part in the annual general meeting of Indian Woollen Mills Federation at Mumbai, Mr Price, along with his colleague, Mr David Conners, Managing Director, told presspersons here that things would soon get better in the US.

Mr Price cautioned that if the US went into recession, all exporting countries would suffer as this might trigger off a cascading effect.

However, the textile industry being one of the absolute fundamentals of global economy, the business would go on, he said, adding that, in the meanwhile, the wool textile industry in India should work harder and smarter to sustain the high growth it regi stered in recent years.

Both Mr Price and Mr Conners elaborated on the activities of the Woolmark Company, which was a result of the restructuring of the 54-year old International Wool Secretariat (IWS), promoted primarily by wool growers from Australia, the world's number one wool producer and exporter.

They said that while the erstwhile IWS operated as a service provider with subventions from Government and funds from the wool growers, the nascent Woolmark Company had to function on a commercial basis by offering a range of service to the wool textile industry. They said the company raised its revenue by licensing the Woolmark label, selling technologies and offering consultancy services.

Mr Conners said that technological innovation would help the industry in multiple ways by effecting cost efficiency to the business through new ways of producing wool fabrics. Second, it would help produce fabrics to suit consumer needs. For instance, th e consumers now preferred easy-care fabrics and casual wears which could be machine-washed to minimise expensive dry cleaning. A major innovation was taking place in this area, he said.

Mr Conner conceded that apparel wool using blends with polyester and other fibres, which the company had been promoting, was targeted at the upper end of the market.

Mr Conners and Mr Price talked about ``massive opportunity'' for Indian wool textile industry which at the moment lags behind other countries.

Dr S.K. Chaduhuri, Regional Director of the Woolmark Company, said that after January 1, 2005, the global textile and clothing market would be completely opened up and Indian wool textile industry had to prepare for it by improving quality and reducing price.

For this, the industry needed ``a level playing field by way of reduced import duty on raw wool'' to cope with competition from countries such as China. He said the Indian wool industry's growth had been quite encouraging but sought supportive policy mea sures from the authorities.

Both Mr Conners and Mr Price called on the Union Textile Minister, Mr Kashiram Rana, and Mr Price appreciated the positive outlook of the Minister on the industry.