(Reuters) - India spot cotton prices, which touched record high last month, are expected to decline in the current weak on quality concerns though lower arrivals could arrest the fall, said traders and analysts.

"Cotton currently arriving in various markets across the country is of inferior quality and millers are not procuring that quality. And because of that prices are expected to decline," said an official from Gill & Co, India's leading private cotton exporter.

Cotton that is brought into the markets now is from either third or fourth pick, which is generally of inferior quality, and usually fetch lower prices.

On Tuesday, t he most common Shankar-6 variety closed at 56,000 rupees per candy of 356 kg each ,down 300 rupees, the Cotton Association Data showed.

On March 30, it had touched a record high of 61,700 rupees per candy.

Farmers with quality produce are holding anticipating better prices in the near future, said Dheeraj Khaitan, a trader based in Rajkot, Gujarat.

Cotton arrivals in Indian spot markets till April 17 in the 2010/11 season edged up 2.2 percent on year, indicating that production might be lower than earlier estimates, state-run Cotton Corp of India said on Monday. [ID:nBMB012674]

The latest estimate of the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) put India's output from the 2010/11 harvest at 31.2 million bales, lower than the previous estimate of 32.9 million bales, but still 5.8 percent higher than the year ago which was hit by drought.

The key July cotton contract on ICE futures closed at $1.781 per lb, up by 0.76 cents on Monday.