Urging the Centre to set up a Cotton Board on the lines of coffee and jute boards, the Indian Cotton Federation (ICF) today appealed to also nominate directors from the cotton textile industry to the board of Cotton Corporation of India.

In his address to the 37th annual general meeting of the ICF, president J Thulasidharan said that considering the fluctuation and volatility in the prices, particularly during the end season due to artificial shortage, the government should take steps to make obligatory the pressing figures by each and every ginning and pressing factory for reliable statistics.

Similarly, marking each bale coming out of the ginning and pressing factory with bale numbers and press marks should be made mandatory to guarantee the quality of cotton, he said.

Stating that export-import data of cotton should be promptly available on a day-to-day basis, Thulasidharan said that sufficient finance for cotton purchase should be available during the peak arrivals at a subsidised rate of 7 per cent or less.

The meeting estimated that the cotton production for the 2016-17 (October-November) would be around 325 bales and arrivals are expected from November first week.

A six-member delegation will be visiting Sri Lanka in the middle of next month, to negotiate with the Colombo Port authorities to allow the port to be a storage centre for imported cotton for a minimum period, before being brought to Tuticorin or Kochi ports, to avoid delay.