MUMBAI (Commodity Online): India’s cotton exports for the marketing year started from October 1, 2009, are expected to double with about 6 million bales as compared to 3.5 million bales in the previous season, said an industrial expert.

India’s cotton export during October to December were witnessed 10.15 million bales as against 549,642 bales in the same quarter a year earlier, said the data compiled by the the Office of the Textile Commissioner.

The cotton production of the country is also estimated to be higher than previous year because of higher acreage under cotton cultivation in 2009-10. The output is likely to be about 29.5 million bales this year.

India's area under cotton cultivation in 2009-10 has risen to 10.15 million hectares from 10.12 million hectares projected in November, the government-run Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) said last month.

Exporters have registered contracts for shipments of 4.6 million bales of raw cotton during this period, compared with just 636,693 bales a year earlier, the data showed. China is the biggest importer of Indian cotton, accounting for more than 70% of offtake, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh and Thailand.