CCI sale of cotton in domestic market begins

The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) started offloading the cotton stocks with it in the domestic market on Friday. It offered 25,000 bales for sale through e-auction and received bid for 1,000 bales.

The CCI procured nearly 21 lakh bales of cotton at minimum support price, mainly from the southern States, in the beginning of the current cotton season.

It plans to offload 2.5 lakh bales in the domestic market initially and is also selling cotton to the Government-owned textile companies at an internal rate.

A CCI official told

The Hindu on Saturday that it had offered 25,000 bales (long and short staple) for sale through e-auction, and had fixed floor price for each lot.

Those who wanted to purchase through the e-auction should register with the CCI and so far there have been 22 registrations.

However, a bid was received for 1,000 bales and that too at the floor price.

The floor price was slightly higher than the market price. The CCI would seek permission from the Union Ministry of Textiles to sell through e-auction and regular auction so that smaller mills would also be able to buy from it.

The official said that the market was currently on a downward trend. However, there were indications that international prices were picking up. The CCI is hopeful of higher demand if the prices improve.

The textile industry has been appealing the Ministry of Textiles to release the cotton with government agencies so that prices do not escalate in the domestic market.