India's last week decision to ban cotton export until further notice will raise prices of cloth in Britain and other parts of the world, according to retailers and manufacturers in London.
India is the second biggest grower of cotton after the United States. Cotton prices have been gone up sharply by a mixture of roaring demand from China, a crop wipe out caused by rains in India, besides higher costs of fertilisers, seed and transport fuel, industry sources believe.
The Daily Mail reported that since March last year the price of basic cotton fibre soared by 80 per cent to a 15-year high of 90 cents (59 pence) per pound. One reason for the hike is that China is short of 1 million tonne of cotton a year.
"The higher the cotton content of an article of clothing, the greater the impact on the price," said cotton expert Graham Burden of Sustainable Textile Solutions, an independent industry consultant.
He estimates that recent price movements would lift cost of cotton in a T-shirt from about 32 pence to 47 pence, which could mean a full 7 per cent increase to retailers.
A spokesman for retail major Marks & Spencer said, "we have no plans to move our clothing prices, but no retailer knows what the future holds for the commodity prices." Meanwhile, retailers expect severe disruption as imports face continuing delays caused by the closure of European airspace due to the volcanic ash cloud.
Backlogs have reportedly built up at airports including Hong Kong, Shanghai and New Delhi, with clothing, jewellery and high-tech products among the stockpiles.
Grant Liddel of retail logistics firm Uniserve said, "while many retailers will have good stocks in warehouses and arriving by boat, some lines need reordering urgently but are being held at airports overseas."
The sudden rise in demand for freight services has reportedly prompted airlines to double their charges.
