The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) plans to buy 10 million bales of 170 kg each if cotton prices fall below the minimum support price (MSP). Prices are above the MSP at ₹5,900 per quintal in north India, where fresh crop has started arriving. The cotton MSP for the 2019-20 season is ₹5,550 per quintal as against ₹5,450 per quintal in the previous year.

As it seems prices will not decrease much in October, CCI may have to intervene in the market in November , said CCI chairman P Alli Rani on the sidelines of a conference in Jalgaon, Maharashtra.

CCI has been operating 358 procurement centres this year. If required, it can open more centres, a report in a top business daily quoted her as saying.

The biggest concern among cotton traders now is whether the CCI will enter the market. Market prices move up when CCI begins procurement at MSP.

Of the 1.1 million bales procured by CCI in 2018-19, it sold only 200,000 bales.

Rani’s words reportedly indicated that the spinning industry preferred importing cotton of the same quality rather than buying it from CCI.