COTTON lint price negotiations have stalled after cotton farmers and buyers failed to reach an agreement during a stakeholders’ meeting in Harare on Monday this week, although final deliberations are expected today.
The cotton companies were offering US$0,20 a kilogramme, while the farmers were demanding US$0,46 for their produce. But after tense negotiations the buyers agreed to move to US$0,32 per kg.
However, Cotton Producers and Markerters Association of Zimbabwe secretary-general Enerst Samson Chigaba has told NewsDay that they are happy with the development.
He said although the negotiations were not conclusive, the buyers agreed to move from their earlier position.
“We are happy as farmers although we were expecting more than this. We have reached this agreement after considering many issues we had discussed that included clearing of outstanding payments and also other issues to do with payments for our product in foreign currency and our ZiG currency.
“On price, we have once again reached a stalemate. The companies have agreed to move from last week’s position of US$0,20 per kg to US$0,32 per kg. The US$0,32 will be paid once on delivery, that is on the spot delivery payment and 75% of the payment being the foreign currency component that is 25%, being ZiG component paid at the prevailing interbank rate.”
The meeting also agreed that all outstanding payments to farmers must be paid up by May 30 this year.
It was also agreed that all grades for the past season must be displayed by companies at entry points and that grade adjustment payments must be done by end of this month. Validation exercise is also expected to be done in five days starting from May 13 to 17 this year.
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Agricultural Marketing Association agribusiness director Jonathan Mukuruba could not shed more light on Monday’s negotiations.
For most seasons, Zimbabwe has been producing around 700 000 tonnes of cotton, but this season farmers expect less 25 000 tonnes.
Some of the companies at the negotiating table include Cottco, New Cotton Comp, ShawashaAgri, Southern Cotton Company, Agri-Value Chain and Zimbabwe Cotton Consortium Alliance.
