Date:01/10/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/10/01/stories/2007100152350300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Demand for cotton set to rise

S. Harpal Singh

Four new ginning mills will double the capacity to over 10,000 bales per day

Hitech: A jumbo cotton processing unit coming up in Adilabad

ADILABAD: Thanks to the doubling of capacity to process cotton this year at Adilabad town, a good season is being expected by all those concerned with the business. Contrary to expectations, farmers will have something to cheer by way of cotton price being higher than the minimum support price (MSP) considering the demand for the produce from the beginning of the season.

Adilabad has a capacity to process enough cotton for making about 5,000 bales per day.

Four large new ginning and pressing units and the many that are being modernised under the technology Mission for Cotton (TMC) will help double this capacity to over 10,000 bales per day that would result in great demand for cotton.

Expected produce

Cotton has been cultivated in about 2 lakh hectares in the district that is expected to produce about 35 to 40 lakh quintals of the produce sufficient to last about three months in case the ginning and pressing mills run to capacity.

The increased capacity could result in processing and manufacture of at least 10 lakh bales.

As Maharashtra Government is launching the MSP operations on October 2 at nearby centres way ahead of the commencement of the season here, less and less arrivals from that State are anticipated here.

Under such conditions, cotton from Karimnagar and Warangal will be in great demand which also means that rates will be higher.

“Another factor that can influence rates to be on the higher side is the comparative less production in China and United States.

Those countries will import our cotton which can keep the price of our produce up in local markets”, pointed out Mahendra Kumar Dokwal, an industrialist.