The Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) and Andhra Pradesh Spinning Mills Association (APSMS) have urged the Central Government to impose a ban on cotton export from October to September next and put a stop on registering any further export contracts.

The members of the association would meet Union Minister for Textiles, Dayanidhi Maran in New Delhi tomorrow to express their grievances.

Addressing a press conference here today, APSMA chairman RK Agarwal, deputy chairman Sushil Sancheti and SIMA member C Rameshwara Reddy said that the actual production in India would slip down to 260 lakh bales as against 290 lakh bales last year, due to drought and floods in all the major cotton- growing states, in spite of increased acreage.

They pointed that only around 150 to 160 lakh bales were of good and above average quality, and if these were allowed to be exported as against the domestic requirement of 240 lakh bales, the Indian textile industry would lose its competitive edge in the global market.

Therefore, they appealed to the Government to stop registering any further contracts for export and totally ban cotton export for this season.

Agarwal pointed that taking advantage of removal of cotton textiles from the Essential Commodities Act, the multinational cotton traders have intruded into the Indian market and are leading to the collapse of cotton economy in the country.

Source: Express Buzz