India’s Cotton Corp Could Buy Record 10M Bales
March 11, 2009 State-run Cotton Corp. of India, the country’s largest cotton buyer, is likely to buy a record 10 million bales in the current procurement season between October 2008 and April 2009, the chairman and managing director said.
“This will be our highest procurement ever,” said Subhash Grover late Monday. The company’s total procurement between October 2007 and September 2008 was only around 1 million bales.
In October, the federal government raised the minimum support price for cotton during the Oct. 1-Sept. 30 period to INR2,500-INR3,000 per 100 kilograms, depending on the grade, from INR1,800-INR2,030/100 kg in the previous year.
Since the MSP is higher than market prices, private traders haven’t been buying much.
Grover said the daily arrival of cotton in local markets is currently 125,000-135,000 bales, of which Cotton Corp. has been buying 75,000 bales; National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, or Nafed, a state-run farm cooperative, has been buying 25,000-30,000 bales.
Grover also said Cotton Corp. has purchased around 8 million bales so far, while it has sold about 2.3 million bales in the domestic market.
– The Dow Jones Newswire
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