Govt begins issuing release orders for 1.9 million bales cotton exports

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has started issuing registration certificates for cotton exports, an official at the commerce ministry said today.

“We have started issuing releases, but I cannot say the exact number of permits issued so far,” the official said.

DGFT was suppose to begin issuing export permits Jan 11 onwards, however, “it was delayed as the process of scrutinising the documents took some time,” the official said.

The government had recently allowed export of 1.9 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg), which could not be shipped out by December 15, the earlier deadline for exports. In October, export of 5.5 million bales of cotton was permitted for the current marketing year ending September.

With the new round of allocations, the approved quantity of cotton exports stands nearly exhausted. India has stepped up exports amid an estimated bumper output of 32.9 million bales, while rival exporting nations — the US, Pakistan and China — face crop shortages.

Exporters said due to smaller quantities allocated for exports in the latest round, it will be difficult to ship out consignments.

“We may have to club together small consignments into one shipment,” said a Rajkot-based dealer. In a bid to prevent cartelisation, the government had allocated 500 bales of cotton each to two-thirds of the 928 traders permitted to sell the commodity overseas.