A team of CAI Directors led by the CAI President, Atul S Ganatra held a meeting with Dhruv Sood, a local representative of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) based in Mumbai very recently to reconcile USDA crop numbers relating to India with the CAI crop numbers.
At the meeting, it has been noted that the USDA carryover stock figure of 54 lakh bales concerning India for 2018 and their closing stock figure as on 30th September 2019 is not correct and that there is a difference of about 40 lakh bales in the said carryover stock figure of USDA relating to India compared to the CAI which is adversely impacting the credibility USDA crop report concerning India the world over. Historically, USDA has shown a very high cotton crop figure and carryover stock of cotton in India. (High stock-to-use ratio of Indian cotton shown by USDA has resulted in less realisation for Indian cottons the world over).
Dhruv Sood has been informed about the methodology adopted by the CAI in arriving at accurate crop numbers and need to bring USDA crop numbers relating to India to a more realistic level has been emphasised. Dhruv Sood has promised to look into this matter and to recommend to his senior colleagues in USDA to make necessary changes in their June/July report.