Steep rise of cotton prices in the last two months, for no obvious reason, has led to huge losses in the textile industry, according to the Indian Texpreneurs Federation (ITF), Coimbatore.

In a letter to the union textile minister, Santosh Kumar Gangwas, the ITF secretary, Prabhu Dhamodharan said that the industry was in a crisis due to the increasing prices of cotton in the past two months. “There is no evident reason for this price rise,” he said.

Stating that the per candy rate of Rs.35,000, two months ago, has shot up to Rs. 41,000 for the medium staple cotton, Prabhu said that neither the farmers, nor the consumers will benefit from it. Warning that the industry could face similar crisis of 2010-11 (textile industry suffered losses to the tune of Rs.10,000 crores due to price rise), Prabhu sought the intervention of the ministry to control the prices.