Cotton production estimate has been kept unchanged at 382.75 lakh bales for the 2014-15 marketing year ending September, according to the Cotton Association of India (CAI). The industry body has retained the estimate of the crop at 38.27 million bales in 2014-15 marketing year (October-September). Production stood at 40 million bales (of 170 kg each) during 2013-14, according to CAI data. The association said the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has procured about 8.7 million bales to provide price support to the farmers, but has not been able to sell the stocks. The slow pace at which the CCI is disposing the commodity, means a sizable quantity is likely to remain unsold at the end of the season, CAI said. It warned that the CCI’s inability to sell the cotton could set in motion another round of major support price operation at the beginning of the next cotton season. The CAI highlighted China’s case which is holding stock equivalent to its consumption of about two years and is finding it difficult to liquidating it, and urged the CCI not to fall into a similar quagmire. The projected balance sheet drawn by the CAI for 2014-15 estimates total cotton supply at 453.65 lakh bales, while domestic consumption is estimated at 31.5 million bales.
