QCO may derail new cotton arrival in India, ginners seeking deferment

02 Aug '23

3 min read

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The proposed Quality Control Order (QCO) may disrupt India's forthcoming cotton crop due to the ginning industry's lack of preparedness.
Cotton Association of India (CAI) and ginners are demanding a delay in its implementation for the 2023-24 season.
If forced, they threaten to halt production and boycott the Cotton Corporation of India's tender process.

The arrival of new cotton crop, set to enter the market in September, is progressing well in northern India. However, the proposed Quality Control Order (QCO) for cotton bales may disrupt the arrival as the ginning industry remains unprepared to adhere to the IS 1217:2019 standard prescribed under the QCO. Industry bodies, including the Cotton Association of India (CAI), are objecting to the order and asking for delaying its implementation.

Ginners from various states convened in a virtual meeting on Tuesday. They have decided to form a national body to strongly represent their interests. They expressed a unified resistance to the QCO, citing a lack of readiness to comply. They threatened to halt production for the new season and boycott the tender process of the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) if the QCO is enforced without their consent.

Despite a notification issued five months ago, stating that the orders would take effect after 180 days, the ginning industry still remains unprepared for compliance by the deadline of August 31. There is ambiguity regarding the status of the current season’s stocks, leading to questions about what will happen to the existing stock that has not been certified as per the new standard.

Meanwhile, in a letter addressed to Piyush Goyal, Minister of Textiles, CAI has said, “In the initial months of arrival season September, October and November, kapas (unginned cotton) contains moisture between 15-25 per cent. It gets reduced to 10-12 per cent in cotton. But, as per the standard required under QCO, it is very difficult to bring down the moisture level at 8 per cent. Similarly, it is also difficult to maintain trash as low as 3 per cent as per the standard. North India cotton contains over 4 per cent trash, while 797 variety has 12-15 per cent trash. Such diverse cotton varieties cannot be brought in uniformity. Under the new provisions, 5 per cent testing of cotton bales is mandated. But it is very difficult to meet the same due to constraints of testing infrastructure.” CAI has demanded that the implementation of QCO should be postponed for one or two years.

Arun Sekhsaria from the CAI told Fibre2Fashion, “The motive of government is not bad, but the manner of implementation is not correct. The QCO cannot be implemented without extensive awareness and educational campaigns. Small sized ginners are totally in dark with the order. The government should postpone it at least for one year.” According to him, the order cannot be implemented overnight, as India is a vast country where various types of cotton is grown. “Trash and moisture limits cannot be fixed at same level for large number of varieties.”

A meeting involving all stakeholders is expected to be called by the government next week to discuss the issue.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)

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