60% of cotton was sold below the support price in Punjab markets.
By yash chouhan 2025-12-03 11:25:00
Punjab : 60% cotton brought to Punjab mandis sold below support price: Data
Bathinda : Nearly 61% of the cotton that arrived in Punjab's grain markets this year was bought below the minimum support price (MSP), with some stocks being sold for as low as Rs 3,000 per quintal, according to data shared by the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board.
The MSP for cotton's medium stape is Rs 7,710 per quintal and long staple is Rs 8,110 per quintal. The cotton that is usually grown in Punjab has an MSP of Rs 8,010 per quintal.
Cotton purchase season starts on Oct 1 every year. This year, cotton arrivals also fell sharply in the state, from 5.4 lakh quintals last year to 2.3 lakh quintals this time around.
Of these 2.3 lakh qunitals, 35,348 quintals of cotton was bought by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and 1.95 lakh quintals by private traders. In all, 1.4 lakh quintals of cotton was purchased below MSP. The crop fetched a maximum price of Rs 7,860 per quintal and a minimum as low as Rs 3,000 per quintal.
Cotton was grown on 1.19 lakh hectares of land in Punjab this year, but the crop was damaged due to floods in some areas. Last year, cotton was grown on 99,700 hectares.
India Habit Index 2025 | Expert Opinions on Daily Habits However, after the massive whitefly attack on the crop in 2015, cotton growing started losing its sheen in Punjab and reduced to as low as close to only 1 lakh hectares.
CCI introduced an app from the 2025-26 season for transparency, naming it the Kapas Kisan app, making it mandatory for cotton purchases. Many farmers initially struggled to register on the Aadhar-based registration app, due to which CCI stayed away from making purchases in the initial part of the season. Farmers are required to upload valid land records and details of cotton-sowing areas certified by revenue or agriculture authorities. Farmers could go for self-registration on their mobiles.
CCI informed all the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) about the new digital registration process. Officials from CCI, not wanting to be named, stated that the corporation is making purchases with moisture content within limits from those farmers who registered through the Kapas Kisan app, and the records were verified by the state govt officials.
