Referring to the Indian government agencies data, USDA said that cotton exports increased to 7926,948 bales of 170 kg each in the year 2020-21 as against 4100,343 bales in the year 2019-20. Cotton exports almost doubled in the last marketing year. However, during the first four months of the current marketing year 2021-22, (August- November), cotton exports did not show the same momentum as cotton prices have remained high since the beginning of this season. 344,927 bales of cotton were exported in August 2021, followed by 275,838 bales in September, 251,628 bales in October and 676,471 bales in November. Whereas, in the last marketing year 2020-21, 339,733 bales were exported in August, 448,626 bales in September, 529,193 bales in October and 782,566 bales in November. Cotton yarn exports declined in the three months barring August due to rise in cotton prices since the beginning of this marketing year.
However, there was an opposite trend in imports as compared to cotton exports from India, according to the USDA report. In the marketing year 2019-20, the import of cotton in India was 2920,003 bales, which decreased to 1080,575 bales in the year 2020-21, decreasing by about 50 per cent. But in the four months of the current season, there was an increase in imports. In August 2021, 78,373 bales of cotton were imported, while it was 92,771 bales in September, 81,072 bales in October and 68,235 bales in November. In comparison, during the last marketing year 2020-21, 60,682 bales were imported in August, 88,401 bales in September, 62,071 bales in October and 42,453 bales in November.
When cotton prices in India were lower than New York cotton, imports were taking place as per the requirement of quality and variety. But after the increase in the price of cotton in India, the imports have witnessed upward trend due to economical reason, the USDA report showed. The 11 per cent duty on imports are also adding to the cost of imports and making cotton unviable due to price disparity. Hence, the industry is demanding removal of import duty on cotton to gain relief from high prices.
India has seen higher exports of cotton yarn and cotton fabrics. According to the USDA report, 929,000 tonnes of cotton yarn was exported from India in the year 2019-20, which increased to 1135,000 tonnes in the year 2020-21. In the last season, the monthly export of yarn was less than one lakh tonnes, which has now increased to above one lakh tonnes. Yarn exports stood at 116,000 tonnes in August 2021, 117,000 tonnes in September, 117,000 tonnes in October and 119,000 tonnes in November as compared to 92,000 tonnes, 93,000 tonnes, 86,000 tonnes and 87,000 tonnes respectively in these months of the previous season.
A similar trend has been observed in the export of cotton fabrics. In the year 2019-20, 148.93 crore square metres of cotton fabrics were exported, which increased to 501.7 crore square metres in the year 2020-21. In the current season, 20.95 crore square metres of cotton fabrics were exported in August, 47.51 crore square metres in September and 37.49 crore square metres in October.
The USDA, citing Indian government’s data, has indicated that during December 2021, cotton arrivals in the mandis have not decreased compared to the previous year, but have increased by 5 per cent. The countrywide cotton arrivals during December stood at 893,687 tonnes which is higher than 849,576 tonnes in December 2020 last year. But the market price of cotton was 41 per cent higher on an average across all the mandis. The average price in December 2021 was ₹7,613 per quintal while the average price in December 2020 was ₹5,432 per quintal.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)