Kolkata: Demand for woollens and thermal wear have declined by 30% year on year this season mainly due to late arrival of winter, prompting knitwear makers to slash production by up to 50%.
Dealers and distributors are unwilling to pick up new stocks as they are yet to offload last year’s stock, and manufacturers do not expect the prevailing cold conditions in most of north India to lead to a revival in demand for knitwear.
“If the winter chill comes in November, then the sales go up. But this time the winter had hit the country in the middle of December. People know that by mid-January, the winter chill will start fading away,” K B Agarwal, managing director of Rupa & Company, told ET. “That is why they have not bought thermal wear according to our expectation.”
Rupa & Co, one of the leading players in this segment, has cut down thermal wear production by 50% as dealers and distributors have not been able to completely offload thermal wear stocks from the last year, he said.
“Sales have fallen flat and we are not seeing footfalls increasing even though the chill is back now,” said Dhayur Alam, owner of Himalayan Weavers, a 20-year-old firm from Uttarakhand that sells exquisite shawls.
Sanjay Jain, managing director of TT Ltd and chairman of national textile committee of Indian Chamber of Commerce, said winter sales have come down because the time span of winter in our country has shortened.
“People are not ready to pay for winter wear due to this climatic phenomenon,” he said. “The companies are treading cautiously and are not creating any inventory.”
Jain’s TT Ltd has cut down production by 25%. “But I have been able to clear more than 80% of my inventory,” he said.
Sanjay Aneja, a leading woollen clothing trader from Patiala, said sales of woollen clothing and blankets have dropped by more than 30% compared to last year. “On some days, there’re no buyers at all,” he said.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecasted this winter season from December 2023 to February 2024 to be warmer than usual for the country. Intensity and the frequency of cold waves will be lower than normal in most parts of north, northwest, central, east and north-east India, it said last month.
