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Informist, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025

 

MUMBAI – India is likely to produce 30.9 million bales (1 bale = 170 kg) of cotton in 2025-26 (Oct-Sept), down from 31.2 million bales produced a year ago, the Cotton Association of India said in a release Saturday. A month ago, it had put out the current year's estimate at 30.5 million bales.

 

The association puts out its estimates every month on the basis of input received from the members of 11 cotton growing state associations and other trade sources. However, this is the first time it has qualified its production estimate, saying it is subject to plus or minus 3% variation.

 

In the first two months of the current cotton year, India has produced 6.98 million bales, the association said in the release.

 

The domestic consumption this year is estimated at 29.5 million bales, down from 31.4 million bales in the previous year 2024-25. Exports during 2025-26 are estimated at 1.8 million bales, unchanged from the previous year. As per the release, imports of cotton into India during the current season is pegged at 5 million bales, higher than 4.1 million bales in 2024-25.

 

As a result, total supply of cotton during the current year is projected at 42.0 million bales, with the season ending at 10.7 million bales in stocks, it said. The corresponding figures for the previous year were 39.3 million bales and 6.1 million bales respectively.

 

In the first two months of the current year, India is estimated to have produced 6.98 million bales of cotton and consumed 4.84 million bales. During this period, it imported 1.8 million bales and exported 300,000 bales. At the end of November, mills had stocks of 5 million bales while others such as Cotton Corp. of India, ginners, traders, exporters MNCs and Maharashtra Federation held 4.7 million bales of cotton.

 

REGIONWISE DATA

In 2025-26, production of cotton in the central zone, which includes Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh, is projected at 18.5 million bales, while that in the north zone, comprising Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan, is estimated at 3.05 million bales, the data showed. The south zone, comprising Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, is projected to produce 8.8 million bales, with Odisha and other regions producing the balance 400,000 bales and 200,000 bales, respectively, during the year.

 

In the November estimate, the association has revised upward the figures of production it had projected a month ago in case of some regions. The projection for Gujarat and Maharashtra have been raised by 300,000 bales each, while that for Karnataka has been raised by 100,000 bales. On other hand, the projection for Telangana has been reduced by 250,000 bales, the release said.

 

Following is the cotton balance sheet for 2025-26 as projected by the association on November 30, as also the actual figures for the previous year, with figures in million bags: 

 

	2025-26	2024-25
SUPPLY
Output	30.9	31.2
Imports	5.0	4.1
Total supply	42.0	39.3
DEMAND
Domestic consumption	29.5	31.4
Exports	1.8	1.8
CLOSING STOCKS	10.7	6.1

 

 

End

 

Reported by Abhijit Doshi

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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