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)