The Hindu Business Line : SICA wants Bt cotton seed prices lowered

With the rise in the acreage of farms using the Bt cotton this year, the seed production cost to these producers should also come down allowing them to reduce their selling prices. Currently, a packet of 400 gram Bt cotton is sold at Rs 1,600 plus.

Speaking at the 26th annual general meeting of SICA here on Sunday, the President of SICA, Mr Soundara Raj, said that his association had proposed to interact with the cotton seed producers in this regard.

The crop for 2004-05 is estimated at 232 lakh bales (3.944 million tonnes), which will be the highest in the country so far and the size of the crop for 2005-06 is expected to be 15 per cent higher than the previous year, the SICA President said. He further said that with the climatic factor remaining favourable and good seed supply, the crop for the new season was very satisfactory. In fact, some arrivals of new crop had started trickling in Gujarat and Punjab, he added.

The domestic cotton prices are expected to be stable, almost on the lines of the situation that prevailed in 2004-05 season, though the international crop situation may go through a difficult phase, with two of the global cotton majors, the US and China facing weather related problems and the crop sizes in these countries would be known only by next month.

Speaking on the occasion, the SICA Secretary, Mr K.N. Viswanathan, said the Bt cotton coverage that accounted for 35 per cent of the total acreage during 2004-05 season might widen to go beyond 55 per cent this year.

The domestic cotton economy may have to grapple with a few challenges in the face of anticipated higher volume of cotton that will hit the market once again this year, the shortage scenario in the extra long staple (ELS) cotton and the pressure on local cotton trade to increasingly adopt to `standardisation' of cotton.

The recent initiative of SICA on a bank-assisted cotton payment system could serve as a model for the financial institutions to develop.

The implication of a possible withdrawal of subsidy on cotton by the US would pinch the importers of extra long staple PIMA cotton varieties from America.

Similarly, the cotton trade seeking to take advantage of the higher domestic output by promoting export of cotton has the compulsion to adopt standardising their cotton testing norms to international benchmarking. "We have to move from the `Indian cotton calibration' (ICC) mode to high volume instrumentation (HVI) testing mode," said Mr Viswanathan.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Good demand drives up Kochi tea sale prices

Likely fall in NY cotton futures

SICA wants Bt cotton seed prices lowered

Kerala urged to waive VAT on poultry

Pepper prices fail to improve despite buying support

Export subsidy for pepper, cardamom gets Plan panel nod

KPRS plans agitations against farm policies on Sept 29