Ginners toughen stand on cotton export issue, threaten indefinite strike

After having launched a symbolic two days strike from Thursday to pitch against the government's decision to suspend cotton export registration, cotton ginners from all over the country will go on an indefinite strike from 5 May if the issue is not resolved.

“India has registered about 86 lakh bales of cotton for exports and out of these about 61 lakh bales have already been shipped. The remaining 25 lakh bales are pending reconfirmation with the government. If government does not reconfirm the pending registration or refrains from allowing the exports of the same, domestic cotton market will crash as around 30 lakh bales are yet to arrive in the local markets,” said Dilip Patel, president, All Gujarat Ginners Association.

Following government's decision to halt cotton exports from the country, raw cotton price have come down by Rs 1500 to Rs 27,000 per bale in pas ten days.

Industry players fear that the prices will further crash if the quantity of cotton, registered before the restrictions were imposed, is not shipped.

Also, the continuance of the restriction would lead to higher supply than demand.

“The raw cotton demand has vanished after the government's move to suspend cotton export registration. There are no any inquiries from millers and exporters at present. We requested ginners in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to join our movement against government's decision and they are ready to support us. We will launch an indefinite strike from 5th may if the government fails to take positive steps in this direction,” said Bharat Wala, president, Saurashtra Ginners Association.

Gujarat ginners intend to meet the prime minister Manmohan Singh to seek his intervention in resolving the issue.