Technocraft Industries (India) Ltd. is a 48 years old leading and well diversified industrial group and Indian Government Recognized international trading house accredited with National Award Trophy for outstanding export performance. The group manufactures and exports multiple products in textiles, engineering and software. Its annual export turnover is USD 200 million. Technocraft exports more than 90% of its production across all products to about 70 countries worldwide and has its own liaison offices and warehouses in U.S.A, England, Poland, Australia and China.
Giving a brief overview of Technocraft’s activities in textiles, Mr. Aashish Saraf, the company’s Director said: “We have fully vertical integrated 100% cotton yarn to knit fabric manufacturing mill located just 70 kms away from Mumbai International Airport and just 50 kms far from JNPT / Nhava Sheva Sea Port.”
According to Mr. Saraf, the company’s total annual fiber consumption is 27500 MT, out of which 5000 MT is U.S cotton.
“We have been importing U.S cotton for more than a decade. The initial trigger to use imported cotton in production was contamination issue faced by our customers due to production from indigenous cotton,” he said.
According to Mr. Saraf, the company started using CMIA raw cotton (cotton from Africa) and U.S raw cotton- Supima raw cotton to meet specific requirement of customers like “Tchibo” for CMIA fabric supply and other customer’s specific requirement to supply contamination free fabrics for white shades from U.S cotton. Technocraft is a license holder of COTTON USA, CMIA and Supima.
Speaking about Technocraft’s experience of U.S cotton over the years in terms of quality, delivery and service Mr. Saraf felt that U.S cotton is much consistent in terms for quality, delivery and service.
“We are satisfied with the overall performance of cotton in spinning. We gained substantial market share and new customers by offering from U.S cotton. U.S cotton also helped us getting premium price from our customers,” he added.
Mr. Saraf is of the opinion that there won’t be much change in cotton sourcing strategy from mills post Covid. Elaborating on the subject he said: “They will continue to purchase cotton wherever they can the better price and margins depending on the prevailing market trend. Yes, there is increasing preference from the brands and retailers on quality, reliability and sustainability for which they are giving preference to mills producing fabrics with least contamination and are certified for Organic GOTS & OCS for sustainability.”
When queried on how he sees cotton consumption in the future looking at the challenges due to Covid, Mr. Saraf replied stating: “The mills consumption of cotton took a hit of 30% to 40% post Covid due to shortfall of workers and less orders. It will take another 2 to 3 months to recover the consumption to pre-Covid levels. We foresee U.S cotton consumption mainly for selling fabrics to leading international brands.”
Speaking about the future, Mr. Saraf looked forward to continue having a good relationship with U.S cotton industry. “We are now GRS Certified Mill for sustainable & recycled product supply with own melange and fancy melange yarn production. We are now even offering melange from U.S cotton to brands to help us consume more U.S cotton to have regular good relationship with the U.S cotton industry.”