The Committee of Secretaries (CoS) on Thursday met to review the cotton export trends and retained the ceiling of 55 lakh bales of natural fibre shipments for the current cotton season as of now.

CoS, including commerce and textiles met here and said “the cap of 55 lakh bales for cotton exports (in the current cotton season) remains unchanged as of now. The secretaries will meet again on February 10 to review the situation,” official sources said.

Besides, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) would review the cotton production for the 2010-11 season before the meeting of CoS next month, they said. The cotton season runs through October to September.

Of the 55 lakh bales of 170 kg each ceiling fixed by the government, 38 lakh bales had already been exported till December 15.

The Directorate of Foreign Trade, under the Commerce Ministry, is in the process of registering cotton export contracts for the remaining quantity.

According to the CAB projections, the natural fibre production has been estimated at 329 lakh bales in the current cotton season against domestic demand, which is pegged at 266 lakh bales.

However, the cotton arrivals are expected to be lower than the earlier projections. “Between October to January 31, the cotton arrivals are about 165 lakh bales against earlier estimates of 195 lakh bales,” sources said. Besides, the government has decided to have a carry-forward stock of about 50 lakh bales of raw cotton at the end of the current cotton season.

“But we expect that the closing stock will be lesser than 40 lakh bales at the end of the current cotton season,” sources said.

Currently, cotton prices are ruling at around Rs 42,000 a candy (356 kg) compared to Rs 32,000 a candy in the domestic market.

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