Question

Give a brief account on the following:

Cotton Textile Industry

Answer 1

The cotton textile industry has three sub-sectors i.e. handloom, power loom and mill sectors. The handloom sector is labour intensive and provides employment to semi-skilled workers. It requires a small capital investment. This sector involves spinning, weaving and finishing the fabrics. The power loom sector introduces machines and becomes less labour intensive and the volume of production increases. The cotton textile mill sector is highly capital intensive and produces fine clothes in bulk. Cotton textile manufacturing requires good quality cotton as raw material. India, China, U.S.A, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Egypt produce more than half of the world’s raw cotton. The U.K, NW European countries and Japan also produce cotton textile made from imported yam. Europe alone accounts for nearly half of the world’s cotton imports.

The industry has to face very stiff competition with synthetic fibres hence it has now shown a declining trend in many countries. With scientific advancement and technological improvements the structure of industries changes. For example, Germany recorded constant growth in the cotton textile industry from Second World War till the seventies but now it has declined. It has shifted to less developed countries where labour costs are low.