MULTAN, March 4: Ginners expressed their willingness to cooperate in introducing cotton standards in the country during a meeting of the executive committee of Pakistan Cotton Standard Institute held on Thursday.

Trading Corporation of Pakistan chief and vice-chairman of the PCSI board of directors, Masood Alsam Rizvi presided over the meeting, which was attended by all the stakeholders of cotton market except the grower member.

Sources present in the meeting told Dawn that Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association chairman Seth Jaith Anand dispelled the impression that the ginners did not want to press cotton bales as per the standards laid down in the Cotton Standardization Ordinance, 2002.

He said the cotton standards would rather prove beneficial to the ginning sector as with them in exercise the ginners would get better price of their output.

However, he was sceptical about the willingness of buyers to accept PCSI guarantee as a seal of quality assurance. He reportedly asserted that the buyer could only encourage cotton standardization by paying premium price on bales pressed according to the quality standards.

The sources said that the meeting remained by and large inconclusive as the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association had sent a new official to represent it instead of their representative who represented the millers in the previous PCSI executive committee and board meetings, while grower member Mujeeb Arjumand was absent.

It was, therefore, decided that the executive committee would meet again within a week in order to finalize its proposals regarding the PCSI functioning and its by-laws in accordance with the CSO 2002.

It may be added here that there was a difference of opinion among the cotton market stakeholders over the role of PCSI in streamlining cotton standards in the country.

Growers and ginners view the PCSI role as a regulatory body to enforce cotton standards in the country, while millers and exporters say the PCSI seal will not be a binding onto them to accept it as a mark of quality until the institute establishes its credibility with the passage of time.

While some people also want a greater role of private firms to establish their seal as symbol of quality, the PCSI just regulates the functioning of these firms working to ensure cotton standards in the country.