Journalism of Courage
Cotton ginners in Maharashtra will soon be able to export their produce directly to Bangladesh.
Pradeep Jain, founder president of Khandesh Gin/Press Owners and Traders Development Association, said a delegation of cotton ginners and yarn makers met a high-level delegation from Bangladesh at a meeting in Gurugram recently. The Bangladeshi side had expressed interest in directly importing cotton bales from Maharashtra.
This, Jain said, will enable better realisation for farmers in the region. “At present, a majority of the exports are done via export-import houses. Since the start of a direct air connection between Jalgaon and Mumbai, we will be able to export our products directly to Bangladesh,” he said.
Bangladesh imports at least 35 lakh bales (170 kg cotton per bale) of Indian cotton every year.
Jain said the Bangladeshi delegation is expected to visit Jalgaon on January 12, where a team of ginners will interact with them.
“The Association plans to ensure quality and reliability of produce. So, only ginners with proven track record will be invited to interact with the team,” he said.
Lalit Bhurat, vice president of the Association, said if direct exports are opened up, realisation of farmers will increase by at least Rs 200 per quintal. “As against the Rs 5,100 per quintal average price they are receiving for their kapas (raw or seed cotton), they will get at least Rs 5,300 per quintal,” he said.
However, traders and ginners are not very optimistic about India’s export options this year.
“Internationally, cotton candy (356 kg of ginned cotton) is available at Rs 38,000, while domestically produced candy is available at Rs 40,000. So, Indian cotton is finding it difficult to compete in international markets,” said Bhurat.
The higher price of Indian produce, traders say, is mainly due to the higher Minimum Support Price (MSP) of Rs 5,500 per quintal associated with the fibre crop in the country.
Over the last three months, at least 5 lakh bales of cotton was exported while an almost equal quantity was imported in the country. India is expected to produce 354 lakh bales this season.
The Cotton Association of India has predicted export of 42 lakh bales and import of 25 lakh bales this year. In the cotton year (October- September) 2019-20, India had exported 42 lakh bales of cotton and imported 32 lakh bales.
A higher demand for cotton seed cake (the solid mass left after oil is extracted from the seed), which is used as animal feed, has recently seen a slight rally in prices of kapas to the present Rs 5,100 per quintal.
The Cotton Corporation of India, under its MSP operations, is reported to have procured at least 22 lakh bales of cotton, which has also caused markets to stabilise.
“Higher moisture content of the fibre in early years had seen prices being low with most farmers preferring to sell their premium crop at government-run centres at MSP,” said Jain.
