The progressive procurement of cotton by the State-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) at the minimum support price (MSP) has touched 1 crore bales (170 kg each for the 2024-25 marketing season. Telangana tops the list of States where the maximum quantity has been procured, followed by Maharashtra and Gujarat in the progressive procurement.

“One crore bales have been purchased and it is still going on” said Lalit Kumar Gupta, chairman-cum-managing director, CCI.

As of March 26, CCI has purchased 40.38 lakh bales in Telangana, followed by Maharashtra at 29.34 lakh bales, Gujarat at 14.10 lakh bales and 5.22 lakh bales in Karnataka.

In Madhya Pradesh, 3.95 lakh bales have been procured, while in Andhra Pradesh the progressive procurement stood at 3.83 lakh bales of 170 kg each. In Odisha 2.06 lakh bales have been procured, while in Haryana the purchased quantity stood at 0.61 lakh bales and 0.50 lakh bales in Rajasthan.

2nd highest procurement

This year’s cotton procurement by CCI is the second highest since 2019-20, when the State-run agency had procured over 1.05 crore bales.

With the latest procurement figures touching one crore bales of 170 kg each, the CCI has purchased over a third of the cotton produced in the country during 2024-25 crop season. The Committee on Cotton Production and Consumption (COCPC), in its recent meeting, reduced the crop estimates for the 2024-25 season at 294.25 lakh bales of 170 kg each from the earlier projections of 299.26 lakh bales in November last year.

As per the Cotton Association of India (CAI) data, the cumulative market arrivals of cotton during the 2024-25 marketing season till March 29 stood at 244.25 lakh bales. With this over 82 per cent of the cotton produced during the year has arrived into the market, so far. The daily arrival stood at 52,000 bales on Saturday. Raw cotton prices still ruled below the MSP levels in some parts of Gujarat and Maharashtra last week.

Mills in no hurry

“CCI faces the challenge of selling its raw cotton bales earlier and at better prices. There’s no global support for cotton prices at the moment. Indian spinning mills will eventually need to buy from CCI to meet their annual requirements, but they are not in a hurry to do so. Based on current international prices, exporting CCI cotton is not viable. It appears that once private market stocks are depleted, CCI may raise prices to align with imported cotton parity,” said Anand Popat of Cotyarn Brokers in his weekly note on Sunday.

“Export demand remains weak, and MNCs are not actively buying due to higher basis levels. Raw cotton prices remain stable to firm, with signs of a gradual upward trend. The gap between CCI and market prices is expected to narrow as the availability of raw cotton with private ginners continues to decline. There is little chance of a price drop from current levels. Prices are likely to follow CCI’s upward movement, and if ICE cotton futures rise, domestic prices could increase rapidly,” Popat added.

Published on March 31, 2025