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Cotton exports set to bloom in current fiscal

21
Nov '08

The worldwide slump in cotton prices is also affecting prices of the white gold in Pakistan. But it is proving to be a boon for a country short on foreign exchange reserves. Exports of cotton are expected to grow by a wide margin in the current fiscal year (2008-09) compared to the previous year.

According to statistics released by the Federal Bureau of Pakistan, shipments of cotton have grown to 59,100 bales in October-08 from 17,400 in the same month of last year which translates in to a growth of nearly 250 percent.

The main buyers of Pakistani cotton are India, Bangladesh and Thailand. The ginners in Pakistan have demanded that the government start purchasing cotton on the lines of China & India which will help support prices, but the government has still not taken a firm decision on the same.

Meanwhile cotton prices in the international market have continued to crash and have fallen by as much as 6 percent, compared to the closing of the previous week in the first three trading days of the current week on the New York cotton exchange.

The prices in the Indian market are ruling high due to an increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of cotton by 25-40 percent for different varieties, but this rise in prices has come with its own problems.

It is only the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), a state owned cotton procurement agency, which is doing the purchasing, while the real users; the textile mills are staying away due to the high MSP prices. But this has come as a boon to Pakistani cotton since textile mills in India are importing the same due to the low prices prevailing here.

Cotton prices in China are also following trends set by global markets and have also lost 5-6 percent in the last few days. The government has mandated to purchase nearly 1 million tons of cotton grown from the current season, but the procurement pace is yet to pick up.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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