Cotton exports rise 76% in FY24

Cotton exports rose from 270,130 tonnes in FY23 to 476,000 tonnes during 2023-24, according to the provisional data released by the committee on cotton production and consumption that met yesterday.

This year marks the second highest consumption out of the last ten years for cotton consumption, the textile commissioner shared at the press conference that followed the committee meeting.

“To have transparency and better cotton, every bale is now under QR code traceability with information of village of procurement, factory where processed and date of selling,” informed Lalit Gupta, the chairman of the Cotton Corporation of India.

The provisional data shared by the committee informs that cotton imports have declined from

248.20 thousand tonnes to 204.00 thousand tonnes. Despite this, cotton production has grown by a nominal 7.7 lakh bales.

On the demand side, exports have almost doubled from 15.89 lakh bales during the cotton season 2022-23 to 28 lakh bales during the cotton season 2023-24. The non-textile consumption remained stagnant while MSME and non-MSME consumption have grown substantially.

The committee comprises all textile industry stakeholders including representatives from the Centre, textile industry, and ginning and pressing sector, according to the press release of the Ministry of Textiles. The committee shared data on imports and exports, and consumption of cotton by MSMEs and non-MSMEs.

The supply this season, however, remained sufficiently higher than the demand in the previous season.

The press release also revealed the data on state-wise area, production, and yield. Gujarat saw the highest yield again this season however the state’s yield in 2023-24 of 574.06 kg per hectare was substantially lower than the 2022-23 yield of the state of 601.91 kg per hectare.

The north zone which included Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan overall recorded a substantial rise in all three parameters. While the area under production in Rajasthan grew, the cotton production by the state and its yield reduced.

Madhya Pradesh saw the highest increase in its yield leading to a higher production of 18.01 lakh bales of 170 kg each during the last cotton season 2023-24 compared to the production of 14.33 lakh bales during the 2022-23 season.

The release however strikingly reveals a reduction in the production by the south zone which included states like Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu over the year 2023-24. Yet, the production of 81.30 lakh bales by the South zone exceeded that of the North zone which stood at a meagre 47.60 lakh bales.