Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Thursday said the government would allow export of 2.5 million bales of unshipped cotton out of the 5.5 million bales permitted till December 15.
Talking to newsmen here, Mr. Sharma said, “We have reviewed the market arrivals and availability (of cotton). What had been determined as exportable surplus will not be held back. Almost 2.5 million bales have not been shipped so far, we will allow export of that.''
Mr. Sharma said the government had capped export of cotton at 5.5 million bales this year to prevent a sharp rise in domestic prices. Export contracts totalling 5.24 million bales had been registered with the Textile Commissioner. The export registrations were valid only till December 15. Exporters, however, were not able to ship out the entire 5.24 million bales cotton by December 15, with the result that export registrations lapsed.
On their part, exporters had been asking the government to revalidate the contracts, giving them more time to ship out the balance quantum.
The Minister said the government would allow exporters to ship out the balance, but did not clarify whether the existing registrations would be revalidated or traders would have to apply afresh.
According to industry players, exporters had already gone through the registration process for exporting the 2.5 million bales of cotton but failed to meet the December 15 deadline due to various reasons.
The Ministry of Textiles on Wednesday decided not to extend the deadline and subsequently cancelled the registrations. Now the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), instead of the Textile Ministry, is working on revised guidelines for export registrations and execution of shipment.
