NEW DELHI: The government has imposed a duty of Rs 2,500 per tonne on raw cotton exports in order to moderate prices of the commodity in the domestic market and help the local textiles industry.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has notified the export duty on the natural fibre, which has seen a sharp rise in prices in the recent few months.
The measure follows the decision by a high-level meeting chaired by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee last week.
The export duty has been levied for six months, an official in the textiles ministry said.
The domestic textile industry has been pitching for cotton export restrictions in the wake of steep rise in prices of the natural fibre.
The price of Shankar-6 variety, the premium quality of cotton, has risen to around Rs 28,500 per candy from around Rs 25,000 per candy (356 kg) in November 2009.
India, the world's second largest cotton producer, exported 2.36 million bales (of 170 kg each) of cotton last season (from October 2008 to September 2009).
Besides, the government is taking steps to ensure that there is adequate availability of cotton in the country.
"It was decided that there should be a carry-forward stock of about 50 lakh bales of raw cotton at the beginning of the next cotton season (starting October 2010)," the textiles ministry official said.
Besides, a three per cent duty on export of cotton waste has also been imposed.
Last week, the government also imposed restrictions on export of cotton yarn, making it mandatory for exporters to register their shipments with the textiles commissioner.
As per a notification by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, export consignments of cotton yarn would now have to be registered with the textiles commissioner before they can leave the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment