Mumbai, Nov 15 (PTI) India is expected to produce 356 lakh bales of cotton in 2011-12 compared to 325 lakh bales in the previous year, the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) said today.
Gujarat is expected to be the largest producer among the states with 115 lakh bales in FY 2012 against 103 lakh bales last year, followed by Maharashtra with production of 85 lakh bales against 82 lakh bales last year, a CAB statement said.
Northern states like Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan are likely to produce 48 lakh bales, while production in Southern states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu is estimated at 74 lakh bales, it said.
The production of one lakh bales works out to 170 kgs.
The higher production is also due to increase in yield, which is estimated to increase from 495.87 kg per hectare in FY 2011 to 496.43 kg per hectare in FY 2012.
The country”s total area under cotton cultivation is also expected to increase to 121.91 lakh hectares in this year against 111.42 lakh hectares last year.
The significant increase in production will be in Central zone where 78.24 lakh hectares land will come under cotton cultivation against 72.15 lakh hectares in the previous year.
CAB estimates that the total supply of cotton is estimated at 408.50 lakh bales provisionally in FY 2012 against 370.50 lakh bales last year.
The total supply includes the opening stock estimated at 47.5 lakh bales, crop of 356 lakh bales and imports of 5 lakh bales.
The demand for cotton is expected to increase to 330 lakh bales against 323 lakh bales last year. The demand from mills will reduce marginally to 210 lakh bales against 215 lakh bales last year.
The exports from the country is likely to go up to 80 lakh bales from 70 lakh bales in FY 2011, CAB said.
Source: http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5596084
