BAMAKO, July 10 (Reuters) - Cotton output in Mali is expected to shrink more than 40% year-on-year to 400,000 tonnes in the 2020/21 season after farmers avoided growing the crop due to a coronavirus-linked price slump, the cotton producers’ confederation said on Thursday.

Mali is one of the four top cotton producers in sub-Saharan Africa, alongside Chad, Benin and Burkina Faso. Output for 2020/21 was initially forecast at 820,000 tonnes versus 700,000 tonnes last season.

But farmers planted less than expected after the producer price was cut to 200 CFA francs ($0.35) per kg from 275 CFA last season, while fertiliser costs soared, the confederation’s coordinator, Raymond Dansokho, said late on Thursday.

“Malian cotton is a victim of COVID-19. The campaign started in a very chaotic situation with the pandemic causing a fall in global prices,” he said on state television.

Global cotton prices fell over 11% in the first half of 2020, as the epidemic hit consumer demand and forced clothing shops to close, extending declines made during a U.S.-China trade war.

In an effort to support the sector, the Malian government has since raised the price paid to producers to 250 CFA francs and lowered fertiliser costs through subsidies, Dansokho said.

Mali’s cotton season runs from April to March in two phases: production between May/June and September/October, and a harvesting and marketing phase that runs from October/November to the end of March.

Neighbouring Ivory Coast is also feeling the impact of the coronavirus-linked cotton market slowdown. In June, it said its cotton sector would struggle to cover its costs after exporting just 20% of last season’s fibre because of COVID-19 disruptions in top buying destinations in Asia. ($1 = 576.4300 CFA francs) (Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo Writing by Alessandra Prentice; editing by Louise Heavens)