India's cotton output likely to dip in 2012-13 season

06 Jul '12

2 min read

The production of cotton in India is likely to fall significantly by 7.8 percent year-on-year in the 2012-13 cotton season, which begins in October, owing to a decline in cotton sowing during the kharif season.

The Ministry of Agriculture estimates the sowing of cotton to have decreased during the kharif season from 1.5 million hectares in 2011-12 to 1.3 million hectares in 2012-13.

The reduction in area under cotton cultivation is due to the farmers shifting to growing other crops such as pulses, castor and millets, which are currently fetching good price.

As a result, the production of cotton would decline by 7.8 percent year-on-year to 32.2 million bales in 2012-13, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).

As on July 2 this year, only 0.95 million hectares of field was sown with cotton in Gujarat, as against cotton sowing carried out on 1.2 million hectares of land during the same period in previous season, as per the data with the state’s Department of Agriculture.

A similar decline in sowing can be seen in other cotton growing states of India. In Punjab, cotton has been sowed so far on 60,000 hectares, whereas in Haryana it is sown on 59,000 hectares and 54,000 hectares in Rajasthan.

In anticipation of better price for their produce, farmers and ginners have started holding back their stock, leading to a decline in arrivals in many markets.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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