MUMBAI: India exported about 8.5 mn bales of cotton in the previous season, but it seems that the figures for this season will barely touch 5 mn bales. The cotton season runs from October to September. “Looking at the present price trend and the disparity with the international prices for exports, we may not touch the mark of 5 mn in the current session,” said Subhash Grover, MD of the state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI).
Figures released by the Textile Commissioner’s office for April showed export registrations have been to the tune of 3.4 lakh bales out of which 43,145 bales have been shipped out. Between October 2008 and April 2009, the total number of registrations were for 2.4 million bales (1 bale carries 170 kg) with 1 million bales having been shipped. The exports have been slow on account of a contraction in global demand which comes on the back of a global slowdown and an international price disparity.
According to Mr Grover, cotton exports have dropped due to wider price disparity in the international market and better prices in the domestic market. The prices in the international market rose by 15%, while it rose by just 8 % in home turf.
“In the past four months, domestic consumption has increased by at least 5% and is expected to be around 25 million bales for the year. During January-April, mills have taken a cover of nearly 13 million bales as compared to 8 million bales in first four month of the season,” said Mr Grover. He added that the slowdown for the sector was coming to an end and yarn prices have started increasing.
According to Cotton Association of India, the domestic demand would be around 23.5 million bales for the year. Total cotton production from September to date has been 29.3 million bales which compares to 31.5 million bales last year.
Source : The Economic Times