The Union Government on Thursday announced allowing of fresh cotton exports of 2.5 million bales from January 11 even as the registration process begins from Friday.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in the Commerce Ministry will accept applications for new registrations for seven days till January 6. “The window of cotton exports has to be re-opened and some 2.5 million bales have yet to be exported. We have invited electronic applications for allocations,” Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar told reporters here.
Of the 5.5 million bales (of 170 kg each) permitted for the current season, exports have already been transacted for 3 million bales.
The government had allowed 5.5 million bales for exports during the cotton season 2010-11 (October-September), but exporters failed to ship the entire quantity after unseasonal rains delayed arrivals in the spot market. The entire shipment quota was to be completed by December 15.
The government decided to give exporters more time to ship the balance cotton. Those applicants who furnished stipulated documents within the time limit will be granted registration certificates (RCs). At least, 30 days (January 11 to February 25, 2011) would be available for export against RCs, Mr. Khullar said.
The document submission will start from January 11 and if an exporter gets RC on the same day effectively he can start exporting immediately. Exporters who did not export full quantity for which RC was obtained by them from the Textile Commissioner in October 2010, would be disincentivised by reduction of their pro-rata quantity by the percentage of such default.
RCs would be issued for up to one-lakh bales of cotton on a single application. Allocation will be done on a pro-rata basis with a ceiling of one-lakh bales per IEC. No application below 500 bales would be considered, he said.
The Commerce Secretary said if the new applicant failed to submit documents in time, he would be declared ineligible and he would forfeit his right to future allocations. Those exporters who fail to ship the registered quantity within the stipulated time will be debarred from future allocations. In addition, penal action will be initiated against them under the Foreign Trade Act.
