Cotton crop in India, the world’s second-biggest, may benefit from unseasonal rain over the past week in the main growing regions, according to the country’s biggest buyer.
States of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the top producers, got widespread showers in the past week, the weather office said. Gujarat and parts of Maharashtra may receive more rain over the next two days, the bureau forecast today.
“Cotton yields may improve in most places because of the rain,” Subhash Grover, managing director of the Cotton Corp. of India, said in a phone interview from New Delhi. “There are no quality issues and I don’t see any adverse impact on the crop.”
India, the second-biggest exporter, may boost its limit on shipments as output jumps 27 percent to a record, Nayan Mirani, a vice president of the Cotton Association of India, said in an interview yesterday. Output in the year that began Oct. 1 may be 37.5 million bales, more than the group’s September estimate of 34.5 million and last year’s output of 29.5 million, he said.
Cotton prices reached a record $1.5195 on Nov. 10 as adverse weather damaged crops in China, Pakistan and the U.S. India’s government will review a 5.5 million-bale export limit in December, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said Oct. 20.
Sales from Indian farmers fell 2.5 percent to 4.69 million bales by Nov. 21 after rain slowed harvests in the main growing regions, Cotton Corp. said Nov. 22. Arrivals may climb to about 7 million bales by end of this month and December sales may rise to as much as 6.5 million bales, Grover said.
Futures for March delivery advanced as much as 5.3 percent to $1.1771 a pound on ICE Futures U.S. in New York today.