Cotton stakeholders to keep watch on Govt meeting outcome

Indian cotton growers and the cotton consuming textile industry will be keenly awaiting the decision of a meeting to be held today evening in New Delhi - India.

The others who will also keep an eye on developments on the Indian cotton export front will also include major cotton importers like China and Bangladesh.

The Prime Minister of India – Dr Manmohan Singh has convened today a meeting of the Finance Minister, Commerce Minister and the Agriculture Minister, to thrash out a solution to the vexed issue of cotton exports.

Mr Pawar had fired a salvo earlier this month when he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister discussing the demerits of imposing a ban on cotton exports.

The Commerce Ministry while imposing the ban on March 5 had said that cotton stocks were depleting and continuation of exports would require Indian textile industry to import cotton in the near future.

While the Agriculture Minister – Mr Sharad Pawar is in favour of lifting the ban completely, the Commerce cum Textiles Minister – Mr Anand Sharma, could favour exports of a few million bales.

For more details please visit : Cotton stakeholders to keep watch on Govt meeting outcome @ fibre2fashion

Use of Bt cotton has not increased yields in India: SAGE

The success story of Bt cotton in India over the last decade is more of a hype than reality, according to the Southern Action on Genetic Engineering (SAGE), an umbrella organization of intellectuals and non-governmental organizations that oppose introduction of genetic engineering in agriculture.

In 2009-10, when 85 percent of India’s cotton area was under Bt cotton cultivation, the yield was 474 kg of lint a hectare, which was just 4kg more than the yield in 2004-05, when only 5.70 percent of the total cotton area was under Bt cotton, Mr. PV Satheesh, National Convenor of SAGE, said.

For the 4 kg increase in yield, farmers had to incur 50 percent more expenses for inputs, he said.

Citing Cotton Advisory Board figures, he said, a decline in yield per hectare was observed during the last five years. In 2007-08, cotton yield was 524 kg a hectare, which fell to 474 kg a hectare in 2009-10, showing a 12 percent year-on-year dip, he stated.

He said the significant increase in India’s cotton production during 2004-05 to 2009-10 was mainly due to two factors - the 2.5 million acres of additional land being brought under cotton cultivation and an increase in cultivation of cotton under irrigated areas. He added that the use of Bt cotton seeds has little role in increasing cotton production in the country.

For more details please visit: Use of Bt cotton has not increased yields in India: SAGE @ FIBRE2FASHION

Radici reports good sales growth despite dip in Q4

RadiciGroup closed the year 2011 with positive results, including sales revenue 6.5% higher than in financial year 2010.

"All things considered, we are satisfied with our Group’s performance in 2011," stated Angelo Radici, chairman of RadiciGroup, "especially taking into account the unfavourable trend that hit all the major sectors of the world economy to a varying degree. The results achieved by our business areas were better than good, and I want to thank all the people who have worked to make this possible for our Group.

The best performance (+10%) was achieved by our Plastics Business Area, which closed the year 2011 with sales revenue of EUR 259 million. Sales were also on the rise in our Chemicals Business Area, where sales revenue totalled EUR 491 million. What's more, Chemicals celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. Positive results were also reported by Synthetic Fibres, which generated sales revenue of EUR 612 million.

As in the preceding years, we focused on strengthening the vertical integration of our Group production chain: on the one hand we made new acquisitions, invested in plant technology and focused on improving customer service and quality and, on the other hand, we shut down or sold companies that did not fit well with our core business strategy. Here I'm referring to Deufil GmbH in Germany and Caucasian PET Co. in Georgia."

"After the MDE acquisition in 2010, which strengthened our position in the US plastics market and allowed us to increase market share, mainly in the automotive sector," Mr. Radici continued, "last year we concluded the acquisition of the German company dorix GmbH, European leader in the manufacture of nylon 6 staple products, thus strengthening our presence in the polyamide sector.

For more details please visit : Radici reports good sales growth despite dip in Q4 @ fibre2fashion