The government may consider allowing further cotton exports after assessing the production situation, a senior Commerce Ministry official said.
Early this week, the panel of ministers headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee decided not to allow fresh exports in the 2011-12 marketing year ending September to ensure domestic supply.
"We may consider reopening of registrations for fresh exports after assessing the production figures, which will be reviewed next week," the official said.
The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) of the Textile Ministry is scheduled to meet on April 18 to review the supply-demand situation of cotton in 2011-12, sources said.
Earlier, the CAB had pegged cotton production at 34.5 million bales for 2011-12. It, however, revised downward to align with 34 million bales as projected by the Agriculture Ministry for the same period. Domestic consumption was estimated at 26 million bales.
One bale contains 170 kg of cotton.
The official said that if the CAB's assessment comes out positive and cotton production goes up, then there could be possibility of allowing fresh exports.
According to sources, the Agriculture Ministry has already revised upward the estimate on cotton output to 35.2 million bales for this year.
In the first six months of the 2011-12 marketing year (October-September), the country has exported 10 million bales of cotton.
According to official statement, the government has cleared shipments of another one million bales as of April 11. The balance 9,00,00 bales are expected to be allowed for shipment next week.
