TNAU: Indian cotton prices to rise above minimum support price

 

According to foreign news on October 13, the farm price of high-quality cotton may be around 6,800-7,000 rupees per quintal (=100 kilograms) from October to November this year. According to a survey conducted by the Domestic Export and Marketing Intelligence Cell (DEMIC) of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), the price of cotton sown in the current season will be Rs 7,100 during January-February 2024.

 

This is higher than the minimum support price of Rs 6,620 per quintal fixed by DEMIC for the current year (October 2023 to September 2024).

 

TNAU in a report advised farmers in Tamil Nadu to take decisions on marketing and sowing based on northeast monsoon rains. In Tamil Nadu, cotton is grown under irrigated and rain-fed conditions. Cotton sowing in the southern region continues until October.

 

A survey conducted by TNAU has revealed that although the area under cotton cultivation has increased in Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, cotton production in Uttar Pradesh has been affected by pink bollworm (PBW) infestation.

 

A TNAU press release quoted the Ministry of Textiles as saying that the cotton cultivation area in 2022/23 was 13.061 million hectares and the output was 34.347 million bales, an increase of 6% from the previous season. Cotton is mainly grown in Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra, Telangana, Rajasthan and Karnataka. In Tamil Nadu, the area under cotton cultivation has expanded to 162,000 hectares, with a production of 356,000 bales in 2022/23.