Amid unprecedented rise in cotton and yarn prices in the current season, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has directed the concerned authorities to "finalise the matter early", as regards to the extension of import duty waiver on cotton till December 31.

The government last month exempted all customs duty on import of cotton till September 30, to lower the price of cotton in public interest.

The minister for Textiles and Commerce & Industry held an interactive meeting with newly constituted Textile Advisory Group in Mumbai on Saturday to address issues relating to augmenting present supplies of cotton and also strengthening productivity.

To meet present requirement, the minister called for facilitating import from destinations where stocks are available and resolving procedural requirements.

"While addressing approaches for augmentation in short-term by import, Textiles Secretary Upendra Prasad Singh advised industry to approach Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare for procedural requirements to enable import from some destinations," an official statement said."As regards extension of the period of waiver of import duty up to December 31, 2022, Goyal directed the concerned authorities to finalise matter early," it added.

Chairman of Textile Advisory Group Suresh Kotak stressed the need to ensure seed availability for sowing especially new early maturing varieties and need to revamp  seed system to enhance productivity of Indian cotton from present stagnation.

"Position on availability of cotton now was brought out and a request was made to help logistics to ensure shipping in time from three sources internationally," the Textile Ministry statement said.

 Kotak shared that as per estimates of Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption, carry over/closing stock is 41.27 lakh bales, which is about 12.66 per cent stock to use ratio and equivalent to stock for 45 days consumption.