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Iran:Cotton industry under pressure as imports pile |
2005-2-28
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It is a problem of plenty for the cotton industry which failed to sell 200,000 tons of products while imports continued unrelentingly, said a senior cotton industry official Wednesday.
Besides, international cotton prices have dropped making imports an attractive preposition according to Valiollah Vossouqi, adding that the continuation of this trend would worsen recession.
He stressed on the need for the government to set priority and make it clear whether it prefers national production or import of cotton, as farmers are unwilling to continue the growing it under the circumstances.
Lamenting about market situation, he Iran’s cotton market were not run by specialists and hence external influencers ruled it.
As per Vossouqi, only an Agro Exchange listing cotton could help regulate prices and guarantee quality of the product. “Iran-made cotton is of high quality,” he said, adding that poor marketing has harmed cotton exports in the past years.
Relaxing of imports has been called for by a senior agriculture official earlier this year, stressing that fixed subsidies would not help efforts to boost cotton exports given the fluctuations in the international prices.
Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture Jihad for cotton and oil seeds affairs, Nasrin Yazdani said the drop in international prices of the product has made cotton exports increasingly unremunerative for Iran and requested the government to allocate floating export subsidies to the sector. |
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