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Economy

Ashgabat sets 9 September for the cotton harvest and hears five governors give the same report

President Serdar Berdimuhamedov held a working meeting on Monday with vice-premier T. Atahallyev and the five provincial governors on the harvest and the wheat sowing, the state site reported; the vice-premier said the cotton picking is scheduled to begin on 9 September, and the president ordered the wheat sown to agrotechnical deadlines and the construction timed to the independence anniversary later this month finished on time. No readout of a Cabinet sitting has appeared on the state sites for Friday 4 September, the second Friday running.

Ashgabat sets 9 September for the cotton harvest and hears five governors give the same report

The five governors reported in turn: T. Nurmyradov of Ahal, R. Jumayev of Balkan, D. Babayev of Dashoguz, H. Ashirmuradov of Lebap and B. Orazgylyjov of Mary. The reports share one text. Preparations for the ceremonial start of the cotton harvest; wheat sowing under way with machinery "at full capacity" and growers supplied with seed; care of winter potatoes and vegetables; and the construction of social and production facilities timed to the 35th anniversary of independence.

The vice-premier's summary added the date and the crops. Cotton picking is set for 9 September; rice is under care in Dashoguz and Lebap, sugar beet in Mary. The president's instructions were to sow wheat on time, to bring the cotton in without losses, to keep pests off the cotton fields and to settle accounts between the wheat and cotton growers and the enterprises that serve them. No plan tonnage for the harvest is in the readout.

The reports share one text.

The readout is silent on the week before it. No account of the 4-hour blackout of 30 August across four provinces and the capital, or of the fire at the Turkmenbashi refinery the same day, has surfaced on the state sites. TDH, the state news agency, rendered again on Monday afternoon after returning server errors on reads on 3, 4 and 7 September.

The exchange line held. The state commodity exchange reported Monday's session at more than $38.56 million and 140.311 million manat in domestic deals, 22 contracts, with fuel oil and Portland cement to buyers in Singapore and Turkey among them.