March 19, 2006	Sunday	Safar 18, 1427

KARACHI, March 18: Minister for Textile Industry Mushtaq Ali Cheema said on Saturday that the government had allowed cultivation of trans-genic Bt cotton which would help to increase per acre yield to meet the fast growing consumption needs of the textile industry.

Speaking at the luncheon meeting organized by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma), the minister said there was no restriction on cultivation of Bt cotton as chances of virus had been minimized.

The Trading Corporation of Pakistan’s role with regard to clean cotton has come to an end as the government is directly giving Rs50 per maund to the growers and Rs30 per maund to the ginners for producing clean cotton, he added.

Similarly, he said that to ensure production of clean and contamination-free cotton ginning factories would have to be registered and only those will be given approval which upgrade their technology and also keep their machinery well maintained.

Mr Cheema said that the Engineering Development Board (EDB) had also introduced some machinery and also allowed imports from Turkey and India so that the ginning sector could produce contamination- free cotton.

However, the minister was amazed over the stance taken by the Aptma against hedge trading in cotton and said that there was a time when the association had asked for allowing hedge trading but now, when the ECC has given its approval, it was against it.

The minister said that Pakistan was in great need of market access to the USA particularly, when it was fighting a war against terrorism on behalf of the entire world. “Presently, the USA is given us equipment and know how to fight this war but we equally need market access,” Cheema emphasized.

At present, he said the main hurdle between the USA and Pakistan over the FTA was the former’s demand for giving guarantee over its investment. However, he said, Mexico’s trade with the USA, which was around $5 billion, has increased to $150 billion after entering the NAFTA bloc.

Earlier, Chairman APTMA Ahmed Kuli Khan Khattak stressed the need for increasing per acre yield to ensure availability of cotton to the industry at a reasonable price throughout the year.

He suggested that the private sector should be involved in research and development of cotton to get better results and estimated that textile industry’s cotton consumption would soon cross 18 million bales.

Referring to the hedge trading in cotton the Aptma chief said that the major stakeholders –Aptma, PCGA and the leading cotton growers- were opposed at this juncture to the resumption of future and hedge trading.

He apprehended that the interest rates, which are continuously climbing up on account of SBP’s tight monetary policy, would stop the on-going investment in the industry.