Demand for sarees, dress material in Surat is 30% lower than usual.
The festival season has begun, but Surat textile industry is far from celebrating. The reason? Demand for sarees and dress materials made in Surat has fallen by over 30% on account of drought-like situation at several places and increasing prices of food items.
“This is our peak season time, which starts from August and lasts till October. However, demand for sarees and dress materials is 30 - 40% lower this year than the usual demand in the period," Mahendra Saluja, chairman of Sahiba Group, a leading textile group, said.
"The main reason for drop in demand is the drought-like situation in many places, including major markets such as UP, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, among others. The continuing spike in food material prices is another reason for lower demand of textiles," he said.
The demand for Surat textiles is usually the highest between August and October, as these months also mark festivals such as Raksha Bandhan, Ramzan Eid, Navratri (Durga Puja), Diwali, among others. Sarees and dress materials produced in Surat are very popular owing to various reasons. However, demand has taken a big hit this year. "The quality of textiles made in Surat is very good, and they are long-lasting. Besides, they are very cheap, and now we supply all the fancy and embroidered materials too. But, demand has been hit badly this year," Pankaj Shah, another textile trader said.
Textile merchants said that fewer buyers are coming to Surat due to the prevailing situation. The arriving buyers are mainly from South India, while flow of buyers from Northern states has been particularly hit.
"The number of arriving buyers is lower than usual, and the ones who are coming are placing smaller orders. There is also dearth of repeat orders on account of lower retail demand, especially from smaller towns and rural areas, which are feeling the pinch of drought more," Rakeshwar Gupta, a textile trader in Surat Textile Market, said.
However, Gupta expressed confidence that demand will improve from Navratri.
Devkishan Manghani, general secretary of Federation of Surat Textile Traders Associations (Fostta), said that demand is lower by 30%, as many places in large markets such as UP, Bihar, Punjab, among others are facing drought.
"High prices of food materials, which are up nearly 15% from a year ago, are leaving less money in people’s hand, and hence demand is low. Things will only get tougher in coming months if demand does not pick up now," Manghani said.
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