Cotton production is expected at 900,000 tones in 2005

An official of cotton marketing and ginning in Syria expected Thursday cotton production will reach at 900,000 tones this year noting that this quantity would be distributed on ginning machines according to their productive capacity.

Director General of the General Establishment for Cotton Ginning and Marketing Omar Aqili said on Cotton Festival sidelines that demand on the Syrian cotton at Arab and international markets has increased where purchase orders get till now stood at 45,000 tones.

He noted that cotton quantities handed over to ginning machines totaled in the last two weeks about 100,000 tones in comparison with approximately 60,000 tones at the same time last year.

Director of Cotton Researches in Syria Mohammed Nayef Salti said technical estimations of the cotton production for this season pointed out at high productivity of more than 4 tones/hectare.

Aleppo has witnessed today the start of the Cotton Festival activities in its 50th session in an economic and social demonstration to reflect the level of development Syria achieved in cotton production to boost the national economy and push development.

Governor of Aleppo, Tamer al-Hajjeh, said in a speech at the festival opening that cultivated areas of cotton in Aleppo, north of Syria, have surpassed 30,000 tones.

He noted that Aleppo occupies a distinctive site in the cotton industry where half of ginning machines in Syria are located, in addition to three public companies to press cotton seeds, while more than half of vocational institutions for textiles in Syria are located there.