Tunky's effort on infected cotton hailed

Tunky's effort on infected cotton hailed

JAKARTA (JP): Spinning companies grouped in the Indonesian
Cotton Consumers Club (ICCC) hailed yesterday Industry and Trade
Minister Tunky Ariwibowo's effort to have the issue of infected
cotton fiber imported from the United States settled in a fair
manner.

"We appreciate and support Tunky's talks with U.S. Secretary
of Agriculture Dan Glickman in Washington last week about the
problem caused by cavitoma-infected cotton fiber," ICCC's
chairman Soeripto told newsmen yesterday.

Tunky visited the U.S. last week to discuss bilateral trade
issues with Secretary of Commerce Mickey Kantor and Glickman.
Earlier in May, Tunky sent a letter to Glickman asking for his
attention to the problem of cavitoma-infected cotton which was
supplied by Calcot Ltd. to several spinning companies in
Indonesia.

PT Argo Manunggal, one of the country's largest textile
groups, and state-owned PT Sandang II in East Java, complained
recently about big wastes in their spinning operations because
the cotton fiber they bought from Calcot Ltd. turned out to have
been infected with cavitoma fungus.

The cotton importers and Calcot are negotiating a solution to
their disputes but the ICCC argues that the Indonesian government
should also be involved to address the problem of infection in
view of the great importance of textile and garments as one of
the largest foreign exchange earners.

The U.S. supplies around 45 percent of the 2.5 million bales
of cotton fiber Indonesia's textile industry needs annually.

The ICCC itself was set up only last month as a forum for
cotton fiber consumers to exchange information on cotton imports
and suppliers in a bid to cope with what they call unfair trading
practices. (vin)