Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has started procurement of cotton at Minimum Support Price (MSP) from farmers in Warangal district and Mehboob Nagar of Telangana. The process is yet to pick up pace with cotton prices already hovering over Minimum Support Price (MSP).
P Alli Rani, CMD, CCI said, “the procurement operations have just started and the Corporation has purchased nearly 3,000 bales from Warangal and 50 bales from Mehboob Nagar. Some bales are also procured from Akola in Maharashtra. The cotton prices are ruling above MSP in most cotton producing regions and arrivals are yet to pick up.”
According to her, “market prices are above the MSP by Rs 50 to Rs 100 which is good for us. When the daily arrivals pick up, the situation may change. Currently traders are offering prices a little higher than MSP. The presence of CCI in the market is also keeping prices above MSP.”
CCI has also opened some 348 centres across the country which can be scaled up to 390 centres depending on the requirement, she said.
Of the 40 centres in Telangana, purchases have begun in 6-7 centres and arrivals are nearly 1 lakh bales. Cotton prices are currently ruling at Rs 5,800 per quintal in most places including Khandesh in Maharashtra. According to Alli Rani, prices were high as farmers are holding onto their stocks. “We had estimated that prices would fall after Diwali and are watching the situation,” she said.
Since the start of the cotton season on October 1, more than 20 lakh bales are said to have arrived in the market. Alli Rani said this is small as compared to the estimates of 350 lakh bales of the crop for the entire season. Trade and industry associations have given varying estimates for cotton production this year (October 2018 to November 2019), with expectations ranging from 343 lakh bales to 380 lakh bales.

www.financialexpress.com