|
Ghana - Cotton industry gets GH˘5million to revamp [ 02 Sep, 2010]
Mr. Mahama Ayariga, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, on Wednesday announced that the government had secured GH˘5 million to revamp the cotton industry to make it viable and productive.
He said the Ministry of Trade and Industry through the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) had provided a GH˘ 3million facility for cotton farmers and an additional GH˘2million as subsidy on fertilizer and chemicals to revive the once vibrant cotton industry.
Mr. Ayariga disclosed this in Tamale on Wednesday during a multi-stakeholders conference on the cotton industry aimed at brainstorming and coming out with a strategic framework to revive the ailing industry.
It was under the theme: 93Developing a long term strategy for cotton industry in Ghana" and attracted research scientists, agricultural experts, business entities, ministries, departments and parliamentarians as well as farmers and industry players in the cotton sector.
The four-day conference is also aimed at coming up with a comprehensive strategy to revamp the cotton industry and to redeem its lost potential of alleviating poverty and creating employment for the people as well as revitalizing the ailing textile industry.
Mr. Ayariga said the Ministry of Trade and Industry is focused on developing a vibrant, technology-driven, competitive trade and industrial sector to contribute significantly to economic growth and employment generation.
He said two core strategies are being pursued by the ministry to achieve the target adding, 93Export-led industrialisation and domestic market-led industrialisation based on import competition in line with a new comprehensive industrial policy has been developed".
Mr. Ayariga said one of the descriptions in the industrial policy is the need for the Ministries of Trade, Food and Agriculture to collaborate to support farmers through sustained out growers' scheme to produce raw materials for the growth of the industrial sector with cotton inclusive.
Source: ghanaweb.com
Global cotton use to rise on Asian demand [ 01 Sep, 2010]
Global cotton demand in the year ending July 31 will be higher than forecast a month earlier because of increasing consumption in Asia, the International Cotton Advisory Committee said.
Consumption will be 25.1 million metric tons, up 0.8 percent from last month’s estimate, the Washington-based group said today in a report. That would leave demand up 2 percent from a year earlier. Production was projected at 25.1 million, down 0.4 percent from last month. That would leave output up 15 percent from a year earlier.
Today, cotton prices in New York reached the highest level in almost 30 months as global equities rallied and the dollar dropped, enhancing the appeal of exports from the U.S., the world’s biggest shipper. Fiber inventories monitored by ICE Futures U.S. have dropped to the lowest level in at least eight years.
China and India, the leading consumers, are projected to account for most of the rise in textile-mill use, the committee said. “The U.S. is driving the forecast rebound in global production.”
The ratio of ending stocks to mill use may drop to 36 percent, the lowest level since 1990, the group said.
The Cotlook A Index of prices in Asian ports will climb to an average 89 cents a pound, up 4.7 percent from a month earlier and 15 percent from a year earlier. The index, which reflects the average of the five cheapest prices offered at Far East ports, fell 0.1 cent to 94.1 cents a pound today.
Cotton futures for December delivery rose 1.21 cents, or 1.4 percent, to settle at 87.41 cents a pound at 2:33 p.m. on ICE in New York. The price has gained 16 percent this year.
As of yesterday, stockpiles tallied by the exchange dropped 95 percent to 18,060 bales in the past 12 months. A bale weighs 480 pounds (218 kilograms).
Source: Bloomberg
|
