India: Saurashtra cotton ginners call off strike
20/03/2012
The ginning mill owners in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat state went on indefinite strike after the Central Government announced a sudden ban on exports of cotton on March 5, 2012.
However, a week later the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) had partially rolled back the ban on cotton exports and announced that all exports registered with it on or before March 5 would be permitted to export after proper scrutiny and re-validation of the RCs.
The ginners continued with their strike as the DGFT announcement did not mention any time-frame about revalidation of the RCs.
Mr. Anand Popat, secretary of the Saurashtra Ginners Association, told media: “We have called off the strike after the Government issued a notification regarding the re-validation process of Registration Certificates (RC). Moreover, we have been given an oral assurance that at the time of re-validating RCs, ginners will be given priority.”
“Besides, cotton prices in the international market are currently down. So, even if the exports were opened it would not have benefited a lot. Considering these factors and the positive approach of the Government, we felt there is no point in continuing the strike further and ended it,” he adds.
Explaining the Government’s latest decision concerning cotton exports, he said: “The issue of new RCs has been stopped. For the RCs that have already been issued, the DGFT will scrutinize and re-validate them. Then based on available stock limits they will decide how much exports can be allowed and to whom.”
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