Government procures 8 lakh bales of cotton this year

The government has procured 8 lakh bales of cotton at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) so far in 2015-16. The government will not procure further cotton as prices have slightly firmed up after witnessing demand from Pakistan. The procurement of cotton was done by state-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) which last year had procured 87 lakh bales of cotton. The cotton marketing year runs from October to September.

The procurement of cotton has been done particularly from states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and some quantity from Maharashtra. This year too, the government’s cotton procurement was expected to be higher at last year’s level due to sluggish demand from China but increase in shipments to Pakistan as well as announcement of bonus, over and above MSP, to cotton growers in. Gujarat have supported domestic prices to rise.

The government’s Cotton Advisory Board has pegged the country’s total cotton production to decline to 352 lakh bales in 2015-16 from 380 lakh bales last year. The country had exported 67 lakh bales in the entire 2014-15 marketing year.