Continue Raw Cotton Export, Says Cci Chief

Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) chairman M B Lal has said that the policy of export of raw cotton should continue as long as it provides greater incentives and support to the cotton growers and cultivators.

Disagreeing with the plea for banning cotton export by mill owners, Lal said that the governments justification to announce export quota periodically was to provide reasonable incentives to the farmers, particularly when the domestic prices of cotton slackened, and the industry did not lend adequate support to the producers. Such depression in prices often encourages farmers to switch to other cash-rich crops. Lal said the corporation succeeded in contracting for the entire four lakh bales of cotton export quota that was allotted by the government.

It will also strengthen its quality upgradation measures for producing better quality cotton for both the domestic industry as well as the export markets. Due to the financial crunch faced by the institutional mills, Lal said the corporations sales to mills in the institutional sectors has been reducing with each passing year. To sustain the turnover in the domestic market and for helping cotton growers, the corporation made all-out efforts not only to sustain the existing mill buyers but also introduce new buyers.

The sales to private sector mills increased to 62 per cent during 1996-97 as against 59 per cent during 1995-96. The corporation continued extending godown storage facility to mills enabling them to cover cotton for their lean season requirements by paying a nominal deposit thus reducing their working capital requirements to a large extent.