Cotton export registrations for the 2012-13 season stood at 4.5 lakh bales as of November 5, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said on Monday.
The corresponding figures for 2011-12 were not available. However, the country’s total cotton exports for the 2011-12 season stood at a record 129 lakh bales (of 170 kg each).
For cotton season 2012-13, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) has estimated a production of 334 lakh bales and an exportable surplus of 70 lakh bales.
“There is a decline in international cotton prices due to overstocking and lower global mill demand during the last cotton season. Domestic cotton prices have followed the global price decline trend, but less steeply, so that the differential between international and domestic prices has narrowed considerably and at times become negative,” Sharma told the Lok Sabha in a written reply. The Commerce Minister said there was no ban on exports for 2012-13. Cotton exports are currently on Open General License subject to a prescribed procedure of registration.
The CAB has pegged the domestic cotton consumption at 260 lakh bales for the 2012-13 season. The Government had recently hiked the minimum support price (MSP) for medium staple cotton by 29 per cent to Rs 3,600 a quintal. For long staple cotton, the support price has been increased by 18 per cent to Rs 3,900.
The Government has formed a contingency plan to procure 90 lakh bales for the 2012-13 season and expects to start 288 procurement centres in nine cotton growing States. The Cotton Corporation of India has already raised working capital requirement up to Rs 15,000 crore for MSP operations.
vishwanath.kulkarni@thehindu.co.in