While industry bodies like Texprocil are asking the government to direct Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to release of almost 50,000 cotton bales a day to bring down shortage in the domestic market, CCI chairman B K Mishra has said that there is no shortage of cotton bales in domestic market.
“That the market is facing a shortage of cotton is a misnomer. While India is expecting a bumper harvest of 40 million bales in the current year through September, as estimated by the Cotton Advisory Board, exports have crashed due to a slowdown in top buyer China, so there is ample cotton available in the domestic market,” Mishra said.
CCI procures cotton from farmers at the MSP to avoid distress sales by them and sells the stocks in the market. Last week, in a letter to textile minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Confederation Of Indian Textile Industry chairman Prem Malik has said, “In some states like Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Maharashtra, the CCI has bought large quantities through MSP operations…. There is a shortage of cotton in these states at present and the local mills are forced to get cotton from distant places, incurring additional transportation and other costs.”
“We have urged the government to instruct Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to immediately start releasing at least 50,000 bales per day for a period of 100 days through E-auction directly to the actual users,” Texprocil Chairman R K Dalmia has also said in a statement.
For now, cotton textiles industry is facing issues due to non-availability of adequate quantity of cotton on account of the ‘Stop-Go’ policy of the CCI in spite of holding high level of stock, he added, further stating that CCI has procured 86 lakh bales of cotton under the Minimum Support Price (MSP) during the current season to protect the interest of the farmers. Out of this, CCI has offloaded only three lakh bales of cotton so far and is presently releasing between only 3,000 to 5,000 bales per day as against a stock of around 83 lakh bales, which leading to steep rise in prices besides creating shortage of good quality cotton, which in turn is adversely affecting the exports of yarn, fabrics & made-ups. Cotcorp.gov.in
