ABIDJAN, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The forecast for Ivory Coast’s cotton output for the 2021/22 season has been revised up to a record 600,000 tonnes - over 7% higher than the previous season, the cotton ginners’ association told Reuters on Wednesday.

“The rains were good,” said Brou Kouakou, the association’s executive president.

The country’s cotton sector has been recovering for the past decade after years of political turmoil caused production to plummet. The world’s top cocoa-producing nation was among Africa’s leading cotton exporters before civil war broke out in 2002.

The harvest, which was originally expected to amount to 580,000 tonnes, will pick up pace this month after starting in mid-October, Kouakou said.

“The risk if it continues to rain could be the deterioration of the quality of the cotton, which is supposed to be harvested dry,” he said.

The Ivorian cotton season runs from May to April, with sowing from late April or May to June and harvesting from October to January. Ginning and marketing start in November.

Production last season was 559,452 tonnes, Kouakou said. (Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly, Editing by Louise Heavens)