Cotton prices likely to rise after January: Textile minister

Farmers should hoard cotton for some time, suggests Vaghela.

Hoping for a turnaround in the textile industry within few months as far as cotton consumption goes, the union minister for textiles, Shankersinh Vaghela requested farmers to hoard the commodity till January 2009.

“While Cotton Corporation of India Ltd (CCI) can buy cotton from farmers at an all-time high minimum support prices (MSP), they should hoard the commodity till January 2009 so that they can avail better prices.

I would request them not to sell cotton till the situation in textile industry stabilises in a few months. Farmers should wait to gain better prices from CCI as well as the market. We believe by January 2009 cotton prices in the country are likely to rise, thereby benefiting the farmers,” said Vaghela during a press conference here on Sunday.

Admitting that the global meltdown, especially in western markets, has affected the textile industry, Vaghela said that the exports have taken a hit recently. “Amid the economic slowdown globally, western imports of fabric, garments and apparels have been declining.

This has led to lower exports of cotton from India for sometime now. However, the trend is not likely to last for more than six months and soon the markets will strengthen and eventually cotton exports will grow,” said Vaghela.

Talking about the lower demand of western market, Vaghela also added that no new designs have generated in the recent past. “Not only lower imports in western markets, but also no new design demands have been a cause of concern for us,” he added.

According to the textile minister, while cotton production in the country was 315 lakh bales in 2007-08, it is expected to be at around 330 lakh bales in 2008-09. “As compared to last year when the cotton productivity was 300-400 kg per hectare, this year nationally the productivity has been around 600 kg per hectare, while Gujarat’s productivity has been 750 kg per hectare,” said Vaghela.