Cotton production during the 2013-14 season has been estimated by the Cotton Advisory Board, Indian Cotton Federation and the Cotton Association of India at 376 lakh bales. Further, market arrivals of 13.3 million bales of cotton as of December 31, 2013, have been officially confirmed against 10.4 million bales in the corresponding period of last season. This consensus of views among official agencies on the estimated cotton production is in striking contrast to the usual trend witnessed in the last few years, with the Government as well as the official agencies coming out with conflicting ideas about the expected seasonal cotton output, the crop yield and the exact quantum available for local consumption and for export. This invariably led to nagging uncertainties related to the cotton economy and to the Government failure to announce a clear-cut and predictable cotton and yarn supply policy. The higher output and market arrivals so far this year are quite conducive for a speedier recovery of the textile sector.
Equally significant is the proposed launch of the Rs. 50-crore Tamil Nadu Cotton Cultivation Mission as envisaged in the State budget for 2014-15. This has come as a big relief for the textile sector in the southern region, particularly in Coimbatore, the so-called Manchester of India where a vast majority of the State’s 1,948 spinning mills are located. Under the Mission, an additional 3.70 lakh acres will be brought under cotton cultivation in the current year. This will be gradually expanded to six lakh acres in the next five years. The main objective here is to maximise production to the extent possible to enable the huge number of mills in the State to meet their annual requirement of 110 lakh bales. The State Government move is expected to considerably improve cotton supply not only in the southern region but all over India.
Meanwhile, the core group set up by the All-India Federation of Co-Operative Spinning Mills to study the general problems facing the textile industry, particularly the co-operative sector, and work out a viable strategy for an early solution has been termed timely. The core group would study, among other things, the measures to be initiated by the co-operative sector, with particular reference to spinning, for improving its operational and financial performance. The move would positively help intensify the Textile Ministry drive for industry rehabilitation by launching a series of promotional measures since last one year.