Call for ban on Chinese silk: Can qualitative shortfall be made up by indigenous silk?

Exquisiteness of Indian garments has relied on a good mixture of foreign and indigenous silk

Amid calls for a ban on the import of Chinese silk, questions have arisen over the indigenous sericulture industry’s capability to make up the shortfall in the superior quality of Chinese silk.

The exquisiteness of Indian garments has relied on a good mixture of Chinese and Indian silk.

“Chinese silk is comparatively smoother. Though South Indian silk sari varieties [like the Kancheevaram, the Dharmavaram, and the Mysore silk] are made purely out of indigenous silk, the manufacture of Georgette fabrics is dependent on Chinese silk,” said N.Y. Chigari, retired Sericulture Department official, who now heads the Koppa Sericulture Farmers’ Producer Company Ltd., Maddur, a Government of India enterprise.

The Chinese silk yarn is long and smooth and considered ideal for warps [length-wise thread]. The relatively coarse indigenous silk is saved for wefts [transverse threads], according to industry sources. Any move to ban Chinese silk will hit the weaving industry hard, confirms Vinod from the Mysore Power Loom Silk Manufacturers’ Co-operative Society in Bengaluru.

After Sericulture Minister K. Narayana Gowda wrote to the Centre seeking the ban, the Silk Association of India (SAI), Bengaluru, also wrote to Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani seeking the same. But industry experts are wondering if India can make up the qualitative shortfall from a possible ban on Chinese silk.

Duty levied

Presently, an anti-dumping duty of $1.85 is levied on every kg of Chinese silk imported, which makes it more expensive. Incidentally, the call for a ban comes just before the anti-dumping duty is scheduled for a review this December.

India presently imports about 2,500 to 3,500 tonnes from China every year. India, during 2019-20, produced 25,239 tonnes of mulberry raw silk. Though Chinese silk accounts for barely 10 to 12% of India’s requirement, it plays a crucial role in the operations of the quality-conscious weaving industry.

Even if India makes up the shortfall by increasing its production , it remains to be seen if the indigenous silk is improved qualitatively.

Out of the 25,239 tonnes of mulberry raw silk produced in India last year, barely 7,000 tonnes were of the superior quality, internationally gradable bivoltine silk, according to SAI. If Chinese silk is banned, a huge responsibility lies on India to boost the quality of its silk, which is only as good as its raw material.

Good reeling practices are also essential, but automatic reeling machines (ARM) will yield good quality silk only if the quality of cocoons is good. One of the major reasons attributed for the better quality of Chinese silk is the climatic conditions. “India is tropical, while parts of China where sericulture is practised is temperate,” Mr. Chigari said.

Though sericulture research institutes in India had produced enough hybrid races, which are equally superior to the Chinese or the Japanese varieties, the rearing practices of Indian sericulture farmers leave much to be desired, he said.

“The quality of mulberry leaves should improve, besides other techniques like the use of disinfectants,” he said.