Centre urged to establish a Cotton Board

Urging the Centre to set up a Cotton Board on the lines of Coffee and Jute Boards, Indian Cotton Federation (ICF) today appealed it to nominate representatives from stake holders (cotton textile industry) as directors on the board of Cotton Corporation of India.
In his address to the 37th Annual General Meeting of ICF, its president, J Thulasidharan said that considering the fluctuation and volatility in the prices, particularly during the end season, due to artificial shortage, the Govenrment should take steps to make obligatory the pressing figures by each and every ginning and pressing factory for reliable statistics.
Similarly, marking each bale coming out of the ginning and pressing factory with bales numbers and press marks should be made mandatory to guarantee quality of the cotton, he said.

Stating that export import data of cotton should be promptly available on day to day basis, Thulasidharan said that sufficient finance for cotton purchase should be available during the peak arrivals at a subsidised rate of seven per cent or less.
The meeting estimated that the cotton production for the 2016-17 (October-November) would be around 325 bales and arrivals are expected from November first week.
A six-member delegation will be visiting Sri Lanka in the middle of next month, to negotiate with Colombo Port authorities to allow the port to be a storage Centre for the imported cotton for a minimum period, before being brought to Tuticorin or Kochi ports, to avoid delay.