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The Textile Magazine
MAY 2012
|
97
USDA predicts fall
in India’s 2012-13
cotton production
India’s cotton output is likely to
dip by two million bales to 32.3
million in the 2012-13 marketing
year (August-July) as farmers are
likely to switch to better-priced al-
ternative crops amid unclear cotton
export policy, according to a report
from the US Department of Agri-
culture (USDA).
India, the world’s second big-
gest cotton grower, had produced
a record 34.25 million bales in the
2011-12 marketing year. One bales
contains 170 kg of cotton.
“Cotton production is forecast
to decrease by two million bales
to 32.3 million bales as the area is
expected to drop by 10 per cent, the
USDA report said.
But the domestic cotton con-
sumption is expected to increase to
26 million bales in 2012-13, from
25.3 million bales in 2011-12.
However, India’s exportable
cotton supply would be only six
million bales in 2012-13 as against
11.75 million bales this year, given
an expected drop in production and
higher domestic demand, it noted.
On cotton acreage, USDA said
gauging farmers’ planting inten-
tions at this early stage is difficult.
However, several factors suggest
that the cotton area in 2012-13 will
be lower at 10.9 million hectares
as against the record 12.2 million
hectares in 2011-12.
The record area planted in 2011
was influenced by the exception-
ally high market prices that many
farmers received following the har-
vest of their 2010-11 crop. While
current prices are much lower than
a year ago, prices are still above
support price levels, which suggests
that prices may be high enough to
generate interest in cotton planting,
but low enough to prompt some
shift to alternate crops.
ed to have a progressive national
legislation for promotion, develop-
ment and effective regulation of
cotton. The proposed Bill sought to
ensure well-structured supply chain
for cotton textiles and facilitate bet-
ter management of statistical data
collection for more effective plan-
ning and policy formulation.
Pointing out that there was no
legislative support against the price
manipulators, the official stressed
that there was a need for a statis-
tical monitoring mechanism for
assessing production and consump-
tion of raw cotton. The proposed
law could integrate with the Col-
lection of Statistics Act, 2008, to
assess consumption of raw cotton in
the country.
- PTI Economic Service
w
cotton scene