KARACHI, May 4: Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Livestocks, Khair Mohammad Junejo hoped that a committee in the Ministry of Commerce working on the issue of ‘hedge trading’ in cotton will take into account the apprehensions of the growers community.

The minister said there are divergent views on the re-opening of hedge trading in cotton, therefore, it was needed that these views are synthesized to arrive at a unanimous agreement by all the stakeholders in order to avoid any confusion and frustration at any later stage.

Speaking at one-day seminar on ‘Cotton Production, Quality Improvement and Hedge Trading,’ jointly organized by the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) and Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), at a local hotel, the minister seemed to be in disagreement with the idea of opening up of hedge trading in cotton.

He hoped that the outcome of the seminar would help in developing a harmonious relationship among all the stakeholders and devising better ways to handle the next crop to the satisfaction of all.

Junejo said that quality has assumed important role in determining the market value of cotton, therefore, it was urgently required to upgrade the status of Pakistani cotton in the world market.

With the fast approaching 2005, when the quotas will vanish, he said every nation will have to compete and create its credibility in the free international market.

Therefore, he said there was urgent need for rapid improvement in the cotton production and ginning process through proper handling procedures and ginning practices. The government, Junejo said, is well prepared to provide all the possible support to the private sector for producing high quality and contamination-free cotton.

The minister stressed upon the private sector stakeholders to play their role in implementing such programmes for the benefit of all the segments of the cotton economy. The endeavours made to produce better grade and low-contamination cotton in Rahim Yar Khan area this season, he said, has reiterated the efficacy of the cotton standardization and grading system.

The cotton production this season (2001-02), he said is estimated at 10.9 million bales, which speaks of the untiring efforts made by the growing community for producing such a sizable crop despite irrigation water shortage for which they need to be acknowledged. Consequently, Junejo said it was all important that we should ensure that growers are properly rewarded for their hard work.

The timing of the seminar, he said seems to be quite appropriate as the next cotton season is just before us and all the stakeholders will get a change to formulate their strategies for producing and handling the next crop to the best interest of their own as well as the national economy.

While keeping close monitoring of the domestic market, he said it was equally important to keep a close watch on the possible world cotton scenario and its impact on our domestic market.

There is a greater possibility, he said that the depressed world market prices would improve by 2 per cent in the coming season as there is a decline in cotton cultivation area by 4 per cent in 2002-03, resulting in over 8 per cent fall in the world production.