Cotton output seen down 5.6%

Cotton output is likely to slide 5.6 per cent to 384.5 lakh bales (of 170 kg each) for the 2014-15 season, down from 407.25 lakh bales produced the year before, the Cotton Association of India (CAI), in its latest estimates, said on Tuesday.

With total supply of the fibre for the year estimated at 455.4 lakh bales and domestic consumption pegged at 310 lakh bales, the CAI expects a surplus of 145.40 lakh bales at the beginning of the 2015-16 season.

As on April 30, cotton output fell 14.3 per cent in the key central belt comprising Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, to 206.25 lakh bales.

Output was up a marginal 2.4 per cent in the northern States (Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan) and 3.9 per cent in south India (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu).

“Close to 90 per cent of the total crop has already arrived into the market. However, arrivals have fallen drastically during the month of April… arrivals were 27.05 lakh bales compared to 40 lakh bales that had arrived during the same month last year. This constitutes a fall of about 32 per cent,” said a statement issued by the association.