Industrial Cluster: Pay Attention To The Price Fluctuation Of Indian Cotton Market

Since 2023/24, CCl has purchased about 3.285 million bales (170 kg each) of cotton at the minimum support price (MSP).

Lalit Kumar Gupta, Chairman of CCl, said: "About 2.4 million of them were purchased from Trengana State, and the rest were purchased from other states."

By March 27, 2024, CCI had purchased 244000 bales of cotton in Maharashtra, followed by 130000 bales in Andhra Pradesh and 127000 bales in Madhya Pradesh. In Gujarat, CCI purchased 91000 bales of cotton, Orissa 95000 bales, Karnataka 62000 bales, Rajasthan 52000 bales, Haryana 43000 bales and Punjab 38000 bales.

Increase production estimate:

Gupta said that at present, CCI has purchased about 1/10 of the cotton output in 2023/24. The Cotton Production and Consumption Committee (CCPC) is the highest level cotton organization established by the Indian government, consisting of cotton mills, cotton growers, traders, central government officials, etc. The committee recently raised the cotton production estimate for this year to 32.311 million bales, and the estimate in November 2023 was 31.657 million bales. The adjustment of the production estimate is based on the second forecast of the Ministry of Agriculture.

As the open market price exceeds the MSP level, CCI will no longer purchase cotton with MSP.

Gupta said: "Due to the rise in the international market price, the domestic cotton price also began to rise, and our purchase volume began to decrease from the first week of February. Our last purchase was on March 4, 2024, and the current price is about 7-8% higher than the MSP level. We do not need to intervene, nor do farmers quote according to MSP, because the market price is higher."

Prepare for intervention:

Gupta said that CCl teams are available in markets all over the country and are ready to intervene when necessary. The average daily market arrival volume of the country is between 80000 and 100000 bags, and the consumption of textile mills is about 85000 bags.

At the same time, CCl has started to sell Indian rainy season cotton (Kasturi Cotton Bharat), which is a certified cotton variety. Gupta said, "We have sold about 5000 packages. Because of our good quality and great demand, the price is higher than the market price."