OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) - Burkina Faso's cotton output has risen by 14 percent to 710,000 tonnes in the 2013/2014 season, close to an all-time high, major cotton producers said, boosting sales of the country's second-largest export after gold.

The data refers to raw, unginned cotton. Burkina Faso is the top cotton grower in West Africa - a region that is expected to produce over 2 million tonnes this season.

"Cotton production is making a big comeback. The 2013/2014 campaign was good, despite sudden changes to rainfall in some areas," Jean-Paul Sawadogo, managing director of top cotton producer SOFITEX, said late on Tuesday.

Of the major producers, SOFITEX collected 550,000 tonnes, rival Socoma produced 120,000 tonnes and Faso Cotton 40,000 tonnes, the companies said. The gain was due in part to genetically modified crops, they said.

Output from the landlocked West African producer, where the growing season runs from May through October and sales extend into the following year, compared with 630,000 tonnes in 2012/2013.

Sawadogo added that the higher output had resulted in an increase in financing for the sector to 140 billion CFA francs from 125 billion in 2012/2013.

Burkina Faso was one of the first countries in Africa to approve genetically modified cotton.

The benchmark March cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., so far the only futures market for cotton, reached a recent high of 94 cents a lb in August and was trading around 88 cents a lb on Wednesday.