Comments
Ahmedabad, March 16 Led by a dip in production in the cotton growing regions of Telangana and Maharashtra, India’s cotton crop for the 2022-23 season (October-September) is estimated to hit a low of 313 lakh bales (each of 170 kg), as against the earlier projection of 321.50 lakh bales. Last year’s cotton crop was estimated at 307 lakh bales.
The Cotton Association of India (CAI)‘s crop committee meeting held on Wednesday estimated that output in Telangana has dipped by three lakh bales, in Maharashtra by two lakh bales, in Haryana and Karnataka by one lakh bales each, and by 50,000 bales in Punjab and Tamil Nadu, leading to an overall decline of 8.5 lakh bales on the earlier estimate.
This is set to fuel prices, which are ruling higher at around Rs 8,000 per quintal in the spot markets in Rajkot, while arrivals stood at 1,800 quintals on Thursday. Ginned and processed cotton prices for Gujarat (Shankar-6) 29mm variety was quoted at Rs 61,300 per candy (each of 356 kg).
However, the CAI has projected that consumption will be maintained at 300 lakh bales. Total availability is estimated at 356.89 lakh bales, which includes 313 lakh bales of crop and about 12 lakh bales of imports, besides 31.89 lakh bales of carryover stock from the previous season. On the consumption side, exports are projected at 30 lakh bales, while domestic demand is estimated at 300 lakh bales, thereby, leaving a closing stock of 26.89 lakh bales, one of the lowest in recent years.
According to CAI President Atul Ganatra, “The worrying factor is cotton arrivals at the same time last year stood at 206 lakh bales, whereas arrivals are down by 51 lakh bales this year, as compared with the same period last year.”
Further, arrivals stood at 154.84 lakh bales up to February 27, which is around 50 per cent of the crop.
The crop in the largest grower, Gujarat, is estimated at 94 lakh bales, followed by Maharashtra at 78 lakh bales, while Telangana will have a crop size of 38 lakh bales, followed by Karnataka at 20 lakh bales. In North India, output in Rajasthan is estimated at 27 lakh bales, in Haryana at 11 lakh bales, in Madhya Pradesh at 19 lakh bales, and in Andhra Pradesh at 11.5 lakh bales.
As of February, about 6 lakh bales had been imported, while exports stood at 8 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.