【英语国际】印度将取消上周颁布的棉花出口禁令

India decided to roll back the ban on cotton exports that was imposed last week, Trade Minister Anand Sharma said in a statement Sunday.

'Keeping in view the facts, the interests of the farmers, interest of the industry, trade, a balanced view has been considered by the [ministerial panel] to roll back the ban and a formal order will be made public [Monday] by the government,' he said.

The government didn't give further details Sunday about the rollback.

The trade ministry on March 5 banned cotton exports for a second time in nearly two years, citing concerns that lower supplies could put upward pressure on local prices.

A ministerial panel reviewed the ban Friday after Farm Minister Sharad Pawar raised objections to the move, saying it would harm farmers, but no new decision had been announced immediately after the meeting.

Besides the opposition by the farm minister, parliamentary representatives from India's largest cotton-growing province, Gujarat, had voiced their concerns to the prime minister about the export ban.

'While we welcome the decision and thank the government for quickly reviewing the decision, we would like to see the details of the order before commenting,' said Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India. 'We hope that it's a complete lifting of the ban and not a partial one.'

On Friday, the government had partially relaxed the restriction on cotton exports by allowing shipments of the consignments for which paperwork had been completed by March 4, the day before the ban was imposed.

In India, an exporter must register a shipment's quantity with the government and obtain customs clearance before shipping cargo.

The country is the world's second-largest cotton exporter after the U.S. The ban drove up cotton prices on the ICE Futures exchange in the U.S., but prices eased when a review of the ban was announced.

In addition to domestic opponents of the ban, the China Cotton Association strongly protested the move, describing it as a 'no-win' decision that will seriously disrupt international trade. China is the largest importer of Indian cotton, taking one million metric tons in 2011.

The Trade Ministry said last week that the ban was imposed because exporters had already shipped 9.4 million bales of cotton, more than the 8.4 million bales of exports projected for the marketing year that started Oct. 1. One bale is equal to 170 kilograms.

BIMAN MUKHERJI / PRASANTA SAHU

印度贸易部长沙玛(Anand Sharma)周日在声明中说，印度决定取消上周颁布的棉花出口禁令。

他说，考虑到实际情况、农民的利益、行业利益以及贸易状况，贸易部的一个委员会本着公正的立场决定取消棉花出口禁令，政府周一将颁布正式命令。

政府周日没有透露取消禁令的更多详情。

3月5日，印度贸易部近两年来第二次出台棉花出口禁令，当时它给出的理由是担心供应量的减少可能给国内棉花价格带来上行压力。

贸易部的一个委员会上周五对禁令进行了重新评估，但会后并没有立即宣布新的决定。在那之前，印度农业部长帕瓦(Sharad Pawar)对实施禁令表示反对，说禁令将损害农民利益。

除农业部长表示反对外，印度最大的棉花种植省份古吉拉特邦(Gujarat)的议员也向总理表达了对棉花出口禁令的担忧。

印度棉花协会(Cotton Association of India)会长赛斯(Dhiren Sheth)说，尽管我们欢迎这一决定，并感谢政府迅速重新评估了棉花出口禁令，但我们希望在发表评论前看到取消禁令的具体内容；我们希望禁令的取消是彻底的，而不是部分的。

上周五，政府允许在3月4日（即颁布禁令前一天）之前手续都已办妥的棉花交易发货，这可以说是对棉花出口禁令的部分放宽。

在印度，出口商必须向政府登记一批货的数量并取得通关许可后才能发货。

印度是仅次于美国的全球第二大棉花出口国。印度的棉花出口禁令推高了美国洲际期货交易所(ICE Futures U.S.)的棉花价格，但在印度政府宣布将重新评估出口禁令后，棉花价格有所回落。

除印度国内对棉花出口禁令的反对外，中国棉花协会也对禁令表示强烈抗议，称其是一项“双亏”决定，说它将严重扰乱国际棉花贸易秩序。中国是印度棉花的最大进口国，2011年从印度进口了100万吨棉花。

印度贸易部上周说，颁布禁令是因为出口商已经出口了940万包棉花，而印度原本预计在从去年10月1日开始的销售年度内总共将出口棉花840万包。一包等于170公斤。

BIMAN MUKHERJI / PRASANTA SAHU