Farmers’ released cotton stocks lead to crashing prices

The daily arrivals of cotton have increased to one lakh bales (170 kg each) in recent days.

There has been a decline of nearly 9% in cotton prices in the past two weeks. Growers have started bringing their stored cotton, which they had held back for several months, to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) yards.

Farmers in various states have had a change of heart and are now interested in selling their stored seed cotton. The arrivals of seed cotton in May have reached a new peak and are expected to continue until the end of June.

The daily arrivals of cotton have increased to one lakh bales (170 kg each) in recent days. The demand for yarn is minimal, and its exports have been negatively affected by the recessionary trend. The demand for cloth is also low.

There are concerns about the situation. Data from Agmarknet, a unit of the Agriculture Ministry, shows that cotton arrivals this month have reached a nine-year high of 1,82,572.67 tonne (10.73 lakh bales). In comparison, during the same period in 2014, when India had a record high cotton crop of 398 lakh bales, arrivals amounted to 2,36,800.48 tonne (13.93 lakh bales).

News source: The Hindu Business Line