Comments
With the price of cotton falling below the minimum support prices (MSP) in parts of southern and western India, Mohan Kundaria, the Minister of State for Agriculture, informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) would procure cotton across 92 districts in 11 States through 341 centres at support prices.
The Minister said that there will be no hike in the MSP. “During the current cotton season that began in October, prices are ruling below MSP in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra,” he said.
The nodal procurement agency is likely to procure about 6 million bales (of 170 kg each) from the open market. As of November 24, about 8,00,000 bales had been procured by the body. Depending on the variants, Cotton MSPs are fixed between ₹3,750 and ₹4,050 a quintal according to the variants.
Slowing Chinese demand is likely to hurt Indian exports even if the latter is set to surpass China as the world’s largest cotton producer, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
The price of the key Shankar-6 variety fell below ₹35,000/candy (of 356 kg) last month from rates above ₹40,000 a year ago.
“Currently, cotton prices in international markets are ruling lower than prices during the corresponding period a year ago, primarily due to lower demand from China and increased supply from the US,” he said.
The Cotton Association of India estimates domestic production in the 2014-15 season at over 40 million bales but it is believed that exports could slide by as much as 40 per cent this year.
Seed subsidyJunior Agriculture Minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan informed that the ceiling for seed subsidy would be revised upwards to compensate farmers for additional expenditure incurred in re-sowing and purchasing appropriate seeds in drought notified or deficit rainfall districts. The revised figures – between ₹1,500 and ₹7,500 – across hybrid rice, wheat, coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds, will be valid till March 31.
To increase the availability of animal feed ingredients, Balyan also stated that import duty had been waived for de-oiled soya extract and oil cakes made from groundnut, sunflower, canola, mustard, rice bran and palm kernel.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.