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Informist, Friday, Dec. 26, 2025

 

By Taniva Singha Roy

 

MUMBAI – The Cotton Corp. of India procured about 5.35 million bales of cotton, up over 16% from 4.6 million bales last year, in the year started Oct at the minimum support price as of Wednesday, according to data accessed by Informist. Around 12 million bales of cotton arrived in the market so far in the cotton marketing year 2025-26 (Oct-Sept), said Lalit Kumar Gupta, managing director of the Cotton Corp. of India.

 

The corporation procures cotton at minimum support price primarily to safeguard cotton farmers from distress sales when market prices fall below the government-declared rate, ensuring their income security and encouraging sustained cotton cultivation for national self-reliance in this crucial raw material for the textile industry. For the current cotton season, the government has set the minimum support price of INR 7,710 per 100 kg for medium staple cotton and INR 8,110 per 100 kg for long staple cotton.

 

The procurement is likely to contimue until Feb-Mar and about 17.2 million bales are yet to arrive in the market, Gupta said. "This time, cotton procurement by the corporation is going to be the higest ever," Gupta said.

 

Cotton procurement from most states, this year have been higher than a year ago. Only in Telangana it has been lower than last year, Gupta said. In Maharashtra, the corporation procured about 1.2 million bales of cotton as of Wednesday, procured 520,000 bales of cotton in Gujarat, and about 500,000 bales in Karnataka, according to Gupta. In Telangana, it procured 2.04 million bales of cotton, he added.

 

In terms of market prices of cotton, Gupta said that any improvement in cotton prices is unlikely in the near term. "Crurrently, the avarage market price of cotton is arround INR 7,000 per 100 kg and is likely to be the same unless international cotton prices increase," he said.

 

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 on Dec. 8. 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 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, according to the association. End

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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