Opening of Indian cotton export gives hope .

KARACHI: Chances for import of more than 200,000 cotton bales from India are bright, as the Indian government has decided to allow exports without mandatory licenses beginning from October 1.

“If the price parity allows the Pakistani importers to go for Indian imports then there is hope that domestic shortfall of 250,000 bales can be filled”, senior member Pakistan Yarn Merchants Association (PYMA), Shakeel Ahmad said Thursday.

He said Pakistan’s textile sector would have to bear a burden of around $900 million for import of cotton to fulfill its immediate requirements of the produce.

The recent flash floods have already destroyed 2 million bales, still Pakistan would get a yield of more than 12.7 million bales this crop season, he added.

Ahmad said Pakistan produced around 12.69 million bales during the outgoing crop season 2009-10, while the textile sector’s total need is 15 million cotton bales.

He said Indian cotton production is expected to rise on ground of India’s planted area, which is seen to rise approximately 7 percent to a record level next crop year as producers are planting more, as a result of higher fiber prices.

Cotton prices in India have risen sharply this year as China imported large quantities form the world’s second largest producer to meet the growing demand for textiles. Cotton prices are up 47 percent on the year from the beginning of the crop year in October.

The planted area has already crossed the 2009-10 level and was at 10.5 million hectares until Aug. 12, a government data showed.

Indian industry officials are looking for cotton production in 2010-11 to be 32 million bales of 170 kilogramme each, up from 29.5 million bales this year.

“Rise in production will benefit Indian exports as Pakistan imported around one million cotton bales from India at an average import price of Rs 58,000 per 100 kilogramme in last season”, he maintained.

“The cotton area is expected to hit a record 11 million hectares driven by higher prices”, A. Ramani, joint secretary of the South India Cotton Association, said.

Cotton planted area is estimated at 10.3 million hectares in the current crop year ending on September 30, according to the government’s Cotton Advisory Board.

In international market the lint price hovering around 87-42 cents per pound. The CCA has lowered its 10-11-crop estimate by 100,000 tonnes to 6.96 million, which would still be slightly higher than its 2009-10 estimate.

According to an informal survey of US shippers, the estimated weekly commitments will be between 225,000 and 275,000 bales on USDA weekly export sales report coming on Friday.

Source : dailytimes.com.pk