India Reverses Course, Allows Cotton Exports

On April 30, India decided to allow the unrestricted export of cotton for this marketing year ending in September 2012.
 
According to a report by the Press Trust of India, Anand Sharma, India’s Commerce and Textiles Minister made the decision to allow fresh registration of cotton for exports after meeting with the national Agriculture Minister.
 
The Ministry of Agriculture has strongly opposed the government’s current export policies of items such as cotton and sugar. The Ministry of Agriculture has also had higher cotton production estimate than the Ministry of Textiles.
 
There will not be any additional restriction on registration for exports and the cotton situation will be reviewed every 2-3 weeks by a special group of ministers, said Anand Sharma.
 
The decision was arrived at because of this year’s upward revised cotton production estimate of 34.7 million bales (170 kg each) by India’s Cotton Advisory Board. The export decision has received quick and strong reactions from cotton and textiles associations.
 
The Southern India Mills’ Association strongly opposed the decision by the Indian government and has made a press release today with an appeal to the Prime Minister of India to prevent further cotton exports.
 
Kishore Tiwari of Vidarbha Janandolan Samiti, a group representing cotton farmers, hailed the government’s decision to allow the unrestricted export of cotton.