By IANS,
Chennai : Tirupur-based knitwear exporters are planning a 15 percent price hike. The Tirupur Exporters Association (TEA) said here that it has asked its member units to hold talks with the overseas buyers and reach a decision on prices.
“The cost of power, yarn has gone up. The inflation is continuing to go up. Hence we have asked our member units to ask for a price increase to the tune of 15 percent,” TEA chairman A. Sakthivel told IANS.
He said the exporters will be comfortable even if the revision is around 10 percent as the rupee has depreciated. Last year, the Tirupur exporters lost around Rs.14 billion worth of export orders owing to rupee appreciation.
The increase in operational costs has forced the export units to go slow on their expansion plans, he added.
Earlier there were reports that the sub-contracting units in the knitwear sector were employing children. However, Sakthivel denied such reports saying: “We have decided to monitor even the sub contractors so that we can ensure that they also follow good manufacturing practices.”
He added that total exports from Tirupur will be around Rs.115 billion this year, up from Rs.100 billion of last year.