“The expectation is that our procurement will likely cross last year’s levels because the price gap is wide open,” Gupta said, while adding that the quality issue is more this year. Last year, CCI had procured over 1 crore bales of 170 kg each.
CCI has opened around 570 centres, of which 400 are operational. Every day 15 centres are coming up, he said.
Unseasonal and excess rains had impacted the quality of the cotton crop this year, while the acreages were lower as a section of farmers had switched over to other crops like maize and oilseeds.
“The arrivals are increasing day-by-day and CCI has also started buying in bulk quantity. The prices will stabilise as CCI has started aggressive buying,” said Vinay N Kotak, President, Cotton Association of India (CAI), the apex trade body.
Kotak said the good quality cotton is getting scarce compared to last year because of the unseasonal rains, there is a huge damage to quality. “The quantity damage is smaller, but the quality damage is bigger and because of that the difference between the lower quality and quality will keep widening,” he said.
CAI had recently estimated the 2025-26 crop at 305 lakh bales of 170 kg each, down 2 per cent from previous year’s 312.40 lakh bales.
“Quality is a big issue this year as there’s a lot variation in all the States,” said Ramanuj Das Boob, a sourcing agent from Raichur. “Weak yarn demand has reduced mill buying. Buyers are willing to buy quality cotton at reasonable price, while the big mills have covered their positions opting for imported cotton,” he said. Quality cotton is hovering in the range of ₹50,500-52,000 per candy of 356 kg, while the lower quality produce is around ₹47,500-49,000 levels, he said.
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