COTONOU (Reuters) - Benin's government said on Monday it has raised the official purchase price for its chief export raw cotton to 200 CFA francs (41 cents) per kg for the 2010-11 harvest, from 190 CFA last season.

"This improved price is an incentive to encourage producers to raise cotton output amid unfair competition on the international market," the government said in a release.

West African cotton production has been hard hit in recent years by slumping global market prices, which have made regional growers uncompetitive.