Comments
A likely dip in output in the major growing regions of Maharashtra and Telangana will further push down India’s cotton production for 2022-23.
In its crop estimate for April 2023, released on Thursday, the Cotton Association of India (CAI) has trimmed India’s cotton crop size to 298.65 lakh bales, the lowest since 2008-09 (290 lakh bales). The latest crop revision is lower than CAI’s March estimate of 313 lakh bales.
As per CAI projections, cotton output in Maharashtra and Telangana will be lower by 2 lakh bales each compared to earlier estimates. Also, it has estimated a decline in output in Tamil Nadu by 0.50 lakh bales and Orissa by 0.15 lakh bales.
Also read:Cotton: Crying out for change
Of the projected 298.65 lakh bales, 224.17 lakh bales (75 per cent of the crop) have already arrived in markets until April 30, 2023. CAI has reduced cotton export projections to 20 lakh bales for the year, which is less than half of the 43 lakh bales exported last year. So far this year, 12 lakh bales have been shipped out of India.
Cotton prices hovered around Rs 60,800 per candy of 356 kg of 29 mm variety ginned cotton. The prices have corrected by Rs 3,000 per candy in the last month. Raw cotton prices quoted between Rs 7,700 and Rs 7,965 per quintal at Rajkot APMC market.
CAI has retained its cotton import projections at 15 lakh bales, one lakh more than the 14 lakh bales recorded last year. As per CAI data, 7 lakh bales have arrived at Indian ports so far this year.
Also read:Cotton arrivals rising in India, prices likely to drop: ICAC
Estimated cotton consumption for the year will be around 311 lakh bales as against 318 lakh bales the previous year. Total availability of cotton is projected at 345.24 lakh bales, which includes opening stock of 31.89 lakh bales and imports of 15 lakh bales, besides the crop size of 298.35 lakh bales.
The projected domestic consumption includes 280 lakh bales for mills, 15 lakh bales for small-scale industries, and about 16 lakh bales as non-textile consumption.
The carryover stock at the end of the season is projected to be 14.24 lakh bales.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.