Turkey’s Tariş Cotton Union has decided to export half of its stocks due to lower domestic prices in relation to international ones, the union’s chairman recently told Anatolia news agency.

The increase in global cotton prices has created pressure on local cotton producers union chairman Beliğ Azbazdar said, adding that there was a 80 Turkish Kuruş difference between export prices and the prices on the local commodity exchanges.

“Therefore we have to play the export card,” he said. “It is our duty to regulate the market, although I personally am against exporting the cotton. Why would I sell something [when] we need them in the domestic sector? But if the imbalance between the global and local prices continues, there is nothing else that we can do.”

Azbazdar said the union was planning to sell half of its remaining stocks, which amount to 5,000 tons.

“We have not encountered any problems in finding buyers for the exports. We are currently going on with our negotiations and will soon be starting the delivery,” Azbazdar said.

The union purchased 53,000 tons of cotton from local cultivators in 2011, out of which some 20,000 tons of fiber cotton was produced.