Higher price volatility resulted in state-owned Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) recording an eight-fold rise in fibre procurement fiscal 2017-18. It procured 1.2 million bales (of 170 kg each) of cotton fibre under minimum support price (MSP) and commercial operations in the last fiscal compared to 150,000 bales in 2016-17. A third of the total was MSP buying.
The cotton season is coming to an end and CCI plans to buy another 200,000 bales before that, according to a report in a top Indian business daily.
Private procurers had started matching the post-January price offers by CCI, resulting in the level staying high. The state body then auctions the natural fibre for textile mills at the market price. The price began recovering since January, to trade above the MSP.
CCI estimates the output at 36.2 million bales for the coming year, 0.5 million less from its last month’s estimate of 36.7 million. Total output for 2016-17 is estimated at 33.73 million bales.

Fibre