Kolkata, April 20: The government's decision to indefinitely suspend registration of raw cotton export shipments from Monday would have little impact on domestic cotton prices as most of the exports for the current cotton season have been committed, trade and industry officials said here Tuesday.

"The ban has come too late as we are already into the sixth month of the season and about 7.9 million bales of cotton have already been registered for export till April 8," Vijay Kumar Binaykia, president of the Chamber of Textile Trade and Industry said at a press conference.

The chamber represents the textile traders of eastern India.

"The ban is just an eye-wash and there is little raw cotton left to be exported," said Ganpatlal Agarwala, vice president of the chamber.

In 2008-09, the country exported 4.2 million bales of cotton. If this ban had not been slapped, the country would have exported only around 400,000-500,000 bales more for the rest of the season (October 2009-September 2010), Binaykia said.