In order to safeguard the interests of the cotton growers and the handloom industry, the government should soon decide on raising the ceiling on cotton export from current 5.5 million bales, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said.
The Minister, who has forwarded three letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with a plea to raise cotton export ceiling, forewarned that, the government should not hold up the decision on hiking cotton export limit, like it did it for sugar.
He said that, while the commodity prices are going down in the local markets, the government needs to make a quick decision regarding exports, to cash in on the global market which is still positive.
The government has already taken long to hike export ceiling for sugar, as its prices in international markets have already dropped from USD 750 per ton to USD 620 per ton, the Minister said and added that, he does not want this to happen with cotton, as they need to safeguard the interest of the crop cultivators.
The cotton export limit for the 2010-11 marketing season from October 2010 to September 2011, was fixed by the government at 5.5 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg), and the entire lot has already been exported.
As unseasonal rains in December last year hit the cotton produce and resulted in lesser crop arrival in the markets, the Textile Ministry has decreased the crop production estimates for the 2010-11 season to 30.5 million bales.
The cotton prices in the local markets have recently recovered to Rs 46,000 per candy (1 candy = 356 kg) after having fallen to just around Rs. 44,000 per candy from the peak of Rs. 62,500 per candy in late-March.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
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