With domestic cotton prices rising and a high level of export contracts, the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry ( CITI) has renewed its demand for suspension of export.
Attention must be paid to ?available exportable surplus,? the confederation wrote to ministry of textiles secretary Rita Menon on Wednesday. The situation could be reviewed in March 2010, it added. ?Restricting cotton exports will not affect our ability to export further quantities later, if at all available,? the letter said.
Textile minister Dayanidhi Maran on Thursday had said the industry?s demand is being considered, the issue was discussed with the commerce minister, Anand Sharma. However, the ministry of agriculture will have a crucial role in taking any such decision, say sources. ?The textiles ministry cannot do much on this issue. The stand of the agricultural ministry will be important,? said a senior official of the textiles ministry.
It is to be noted that the textiles ministry pushed hard for the hike in minimum support price (MSP) of cotton in August, 2008, by over 40%, against which industry had protested but in vain.
According to the CITI estimates, over 13 lakh bales have already been registered with the textile commissioner for exports as on November 11 and about 10 lakh bales are understood to be held by traders for registration. The registration this year is 400% higher compared with the same period last year.
It may be noted that during 2008-09, cotton prices had shot up at a period when the industry was already making losses and we had requested Centre to curtail exports. When contacted , CITI chairman Shishir Jaipuria said, ?Presently, cotton prices are ruling firm at around Rs 25,000 per candy (1 candy = 356 kg). It was Rs 23,000 per candy during the same period last year. So far, in the current cotton season (2009-10), cotton arrival has reached 3.8 million bales. Out of which, 2.3 million bales have already been booked for exports.?
?The procedure of registration of export contracts was introduced by the Centre in this context. The objective of registration of export contracts was to monitor exports and to take corrective action, where necesssary,? he added.
