Cotton farmers urged to hold on to crop

to sell their crop for anything less than US$2 per kg after the world market price rose from US$1,40 in January to the current US$5,05.
Association vice chairman Mr Morris Mukwe, yesterday said they expected the Cotton Ginners Association (CGA) to accept the prices farmers were demanding or his association would request the Government to let in more independent buyers to end the exploitation of farmers.
“We want to remind cotton buying companies that there is free cotton this year, all thanks to the Presidential Well-Wishers’ Input Scheme that allowed farmers to re-plant after the first crop had been affected by dry weather.
“Farmers had initially planted using inputs from contractors but the crop was destroyed by the mid-season drought that hit the country forcing farmers to re-plant using inputs from the President,” he said.
He encouraged farmers not to accept part payments but the entire amount as past experiences had shown that buyers always reneged on their pledges to pay the balance.
Late payments that farmers should accept must only be bonuses in the event of prices firming on the world market, added Mr Mukwe.
“There is a buyer who is offering very good prices this season so farmers must not rush to sell their produce as is currently happening with those dealing with Cottco who are paying them US$60 for a bale of cotton. We shall disclose the identity of the buyer as soon as the deal has been finalised.
“Cottco are taking advantage of farmers’ desperate situation and are buying cotton that is still in the field for as little as 15US cents per kilogramme. This has come to be known as the green bale,” Mr Mukwe added.
Stakeholders in the cotton industry are currently in negotiations for this year’s price with farmers’ representatives proposing that the least farmers can take is US$2,30 per kg.
Last season buyers were offering as little as US$0,30 for a kilogramme and prices only got better after the arrival of Sino Zimbabwe on the scene who were offering US$0,50 instead. On the world market there has been a 1.0 million-bale reduction to the harvest forecast for India and a 500,000-bale reduction to the harvest forecast from China.
Partially offsetting these decreases in cotton production figures were a 600 000-bale increase in the expected harvest from Brazil and a 500 000-bale increase in the expected harvest from Australia.
The current forecast for 2010/11-world production is now 115.0 million bales, 300,000 bales lower than February’s estimate. The world cotton consumption estimate was essentially unchanged at 116,6 million bales, increasing only 50,000 bales due to a 50,000-bale increase expected in Vietnamese consumption.
Chinese cotton imports are expected to offset the decrease in production and the Chinese import figure increased 500,000 bales from 15 to 15,5 million bales.