The Minister also announced the acceptance of the industry's request for allowing bill of lading till September 30, 2022, so that cotton availability eases.
Coimbatore: At the stakeholder consultation meeting conducted by the Ministry of Textiles in Delhi on Tuesday, the Minister of Textiles Piyush Goyal presided over the meeting with representatives from across the entire textile value chain also participating.
The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) Chairman, T Rajkumar and the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA) Chairman, Ravi Sam stated that the Textile Minister Piyush Goyal had requested the industry to cooperate with each other to tide over the present crisis and ensure cotton supply for downstream domestic industry. "A crosssection of views and suggestions were given on taming the prices and arriving at a long-term solution to address such volatility as is presently being witnessed in cotton price and volatility. Better production and consumption estimation through better data collection, better risk mitigation methods and extension of duty-free import of cotton were some of the solutions suggested," they added.
"The Textile Minister also made the following important suggestions/announcements:
1. Improvement in seed quality. Announced intent to introduce new BT cotton variety soon.
2. Promote production of ELS cotton.
3. Forward contracts with farmers for cotton by user industry so that they have assurance-based increase in cotton acreage and production.
4. Announced the formation of a cotton advisory board with representation from MoT, Agriculture, Agricultural Research, Commerce and Finance, along with industry representatives.
The Board, under the stewardship of Suresh Kotak will ensure better coordination between cotton stakeholders and the first meeting has been proposed for May 28 in Mumbai. The Minister also announced the acceptance of the industry's request for allowing bill of lading till September 30, 2022, so that cotton availability eases. A formal announcement is awaited," detailed the CITI Chairman, T Rajkumar and the SIMA Chairman, Ravi Sam.