Cotton Farming Import

CAI asks Goyal to remove 11% import charge on cotton immediately

CAI asks Goyal to remove 11% import charge on cotton immediately

CAI asks Goyal to remove the 11% import charge on cotton immediately

The Cotton Association of India (CAI), which is the trade’s highest body, has asked Commerce, Food, and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal to get rid of the 11% import duty on cotton right away.

In a letter to Goyal, CAI President Atul S. Ganatra said that the government should get rid of the duty because cotton prices in India are 15% higher than in other countries that sell cotton on the world market.

Read More Agrinews | Due to delayed monsoon, Govt extends extra month for duty-free imports of cotton

‘This has made it very hard for our textile industry to get raw materials at prices that are competitive. This has made our value-added products less competitive on the international market, and the textile industry is only running at 50% of its capacity,’ he wrote in the letter.

On the domestic market, a candy of ginned cotton costs ₹66,750 right now (356 kg). Across the agricultural produce marketing committee (APMC) yards, the weighted average price of raw cotton is currently ₹8,309 per quintal.

ICE futures price

Cotton, on the other hand, is priced at 82.7 US cents per pound (₹53,850 yen per candy) at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in New York for delivery in March. On the MCX, the price of cotton for delivery in December is currently ₹31,560 per 170 kg bale (₹66,090 per candy).

He said that getting rid of the duty would do a lot to keep cotton prices stable and help the textile industry work at its best. Read More Agrinews | Centre may scrap 40% duty on wheat imports to bring down domestic prices

Due to a lack of good cotton, the Centre let the textile industry import cotton with no customs duty until October 31 of this year. Another reason to allow the imports was that the price of the natural fibre had gone up to ₹1 lakh per candy.

The industry asked for duty-free imports to last until December 31, but the Centre did not answer.

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