Around 600 Open-End spinning mills across Tamil Nadu suspend operations

The heartbeat of India’s recycled textile hub has flatlined as approximately 600 Open-End (OE) spinning mills across Coimbatore, Tiruppur, and Erode officially suspended operations this week. This mass shutdown follows a period of ‘curtailed operations’ that failed to bridge a widening gap between soaring waste-fiber costs and crashing yarn realizations.

While virgin raw cotton prices eased to Rs 52,500 per candy following the removal of import duties, the price of ‘comber noil’ - the waste cotton essential for OE spinning – rose to Rs1 15 per kg. This 15 per cent pricing anomaly has left spinners losing nearly Rs 25 on every kilogram of 20s weft yarn produced, effectively penalizing the industry for its sustainability-led model.

The crisis is compounded by a ‘Double Whammy’ on the export front: a 50 per cent US tariff on Indian apparel and fresh duties on chemical inputs like MEG have rendered Tamil Nadu’s exports uncompetitive against rivals in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Local manufacturers point to a stark regional disparity; production costs in Panipat are now 30 per cent lower due to Punjab’s high power tariffs and peak-hour surcharges. We are being priced out of our own heritage, says a representative from the Open-End Spinning Mills Association (OSMA), noting that daily production losses have crossed Rs 12 crore. The industry is now demanding a separate HSN code for recycled products to safeguard the circular economy and prevent one-third of the state’s spinning capacity from turning into non-performing assets.

The recycled textile sector in Tamil Nadu specializes in ‘Open-End’ spinning, a process that converts textile waste (comber noil, garment clips, and recycled PET fiber) into sustainable, cost-effective yarn.

These mills are the primary suppliers for powerloom clusters producing lungis, towels, denim, and home furnishings. They also underpin Tiruppur’s global reputation for recycled knitwear.