Hyderabad, June 03: Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Thursday in separate letters to Union Minister for Finance, Pranab Mukherjee and Union Minister for Textiles, Mr Dayanidhi Maran requested them to remove the restriction on the exports of cotton and permit to export an additional 15 lakhs cotton bales, so that farmers would get remunerative prices for cotton.
In the letter to the Union Ministers, the Chief Minister said “As you are aware, Cotton crop sown over an area of 17.32 lakh ha. in Andhra Pradesh State was affected due to continuous rains during November and December, 2010, and farmers lost substantial income due to depressed prices for sale of 6 lakh bales of Cotton very much below the MSP, due to moisture content and blackening of seed.
In the latter half of the season till the end of March 2011, due to timely decision of Government of India to permit 55 lakh bales for export, farmers got good remunerative prices from Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 against Minimum Support Price of Rs.3,000 per quintal.
However, the said quota has already been exausted before March, 2011. About 25 per cent of the cotton produced is still lying with the farmers and they are not able to sell it in the Indian market even at the rate of Rs.2,700 per quintal, whereas, the cotton exported had given them a price between Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 per quintal.
The cotton production in the next season is also expected to be quite high. Therefore, if the present stock of cotton available with the farmers is not sold at reasonable price, the stocks will go waste and farmers will incur huge financial loses.
“As there is already demand for cotton in the international market, additional export of cotton may be permitted so that the farmers get sufficient and adequate return for the products. I request you to take a positive decision to remove the restriction on the exports of cotton and permit to export an additional 15 lakhs cotton bales, so that farmers would get remunerative prices for cotton,” the Chief Minister wrote.
——–Agencies