13/12/2010
New Delhi, Dec 13 (PTI) Exporters have managed to ship out only less than half of the permitted 55 lakh bales of cotton, much to the relief of the domestic textiles industry which has been opposing the outward shipments tooth and nail.
The exports were allowed from November 1 and the entire quantity of registered 55 lakh bales was to be shipped out by December 15.
By now, only about 25 lakh bales have been exported and the government has to decide at the ministerial level whether to allow extension of time, Secretary in the Textiles Ministry Rita Menon told PTI.
Finance, Agriculture, Commerce and Textiles ministers are expected to meet within this week to take a decision on the extension of the time for cotton exports.
Menon said the government would also examine whether all the registrations were genuine.
"First, we are going to see what are the valid registrations. We will see the gaps, then we will have a policy decision," she said.
When the government had decided in September to allow cotton exports in the current season (October-September), the textiles industry was up in arms against the move, stating high raw material prices would harm it.
The industry in clusters like Tirupur went on a day long strike against these exports on November 19.
However, the Agriculture Ministry pushed for cotton exports saying farmers'' interest should be safeguarded.
The commodity prices in India have witnessed a rise of about 89 per cent in the fast few months, according to the government estimates.
This is despite projections of a record production of cotton at 325 lakh bales in 2010-11 against the estimated demand of 266 lakh bales.
Apart from fixing a threshold on cotton exports, the government has also imposed a cap of 72 crore kg on cotton yarn exports this fiscal to help the domestic textiles industry in view of rising prices in the global market.
According to industry sources, prices of cotton yarn have increased by about 85 per cent in the last nine months.
The exports were allowed from November 1 and the entire quantity of registered 55 lakh bales was to be shipped out by December 15.
By now, only about 25 lakh bales have been exported and the government has to decide at the ministerial level whether to allow extension of time, Secretary in the Textiles Ministry Rita Menon told PTI.
Finance, Agriculture, Commerce and Textiles ministers are expected to meet within this week to take a decision on the extension of the time for cotton exports.
Menon said the government would also examine whether all the registrations were genuine.
"First, we are going to see what are the valid registrations. We will see the gaps, then we will have a policy decision," she said.
When the government had decided in September to allow cotton exports in the current season (October-September), the textiles industry was up in arms against the move, stating high raw material prices would harm it.
The industry in clusters like Tirupur went on a day long strike against these exports on November 19.
However, the Agriculture Ministry pushed for cotton exports saying farmers'' interest should be safeguarded.
The commodity prices in India have witnessed a rise of about 89 per cent in the fast few months, according to the government estimates.
This is despite projections of a record production of cotton at 325 lakh bales in 2010-11 against the estimated demand of 266 lakh bales.
Apart from fixing a threshold on cotton exports, the government has also imposed a cap of 72 crore kg on cotton yarn exports this fiscal to help the domestic textiles industry in view of rising prices in the global market.
According to industry sources, prices of cotton yarn have increased by about 85 per cent in the last nine months.
No comments:
Post a Comment