The Government of India has postponed its decision to implement the Cotton Bales (Quality Control) Order, 2023 by three months.
A gazette order issued by the Ministry of Textiles late on Tuesday said the order would be implemented from November 27 instead of August 28.
The decision to postpone the implementation was taken following a request from textile organizations and trade unions during a meeting with textile ministry officials over the weekend.
The order, known as the Cotton QCO (Quality Control Order), was notified by the Union Ministry of Textiles on February 28 and was to come into force 180 days after its publication in the Gazette. This applies to processed cotton (counted) and unprocessed or raw cotton (cotton).
The QCO specifies 8 percent moisture content for cotton bales, orders ginning mills to test at least 5 percent of bales, and restricts garbage content in bales to below 3 percent.
The QCO will also apply to imported cotton. The Tamil Nadu Spinning Mills Association (TASMA) had urged the Center to postpone the order till a consensus is reached among all stakeholders.
The Cotton Association of India (CAI) urged Commerce and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal to postpone the QCO for "minimum one or two years".
CAI president Atul Ganatra said ginners would find it difficult to ensure 8 per cent moisture in cotton bales as it would be 10-12 per cent in lint (processed cotton) and 15-25 per cent in cotton (raw cotton) during October-December . ,
He pointed to the lack of adequate infrastructure to test cotton bales, and also expressed the difficulty in meeting the limits on waste content in cotton.
The Karnataka Cotton Association (KCA) demanded a meeting between the Ministry of Textiles and ginners to clear and clarify "all confusion" around QCO.
It wanted the QCO to be postponed till proper testing infrastructure is available, as few laboratories are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
It called for enforcement of quality standards in Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yards, which are procurement centers for cotton.
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