BAMAKO (Reuters) - Mali produced 185,000 tonnes of ginned cotton during the 2013/14 season, down from 191,000 tonnes the previous season, the West African nation's cotton company CMDT said.

Raw cotton production in 2013/14 stood at 440,000 tonnes, CMDT said, down from 450,000 tonnes the previous season.

The Malian cotton season opens in April, with harvesting from May to November and a marketing phase that runs from November to March 31.

"The season ended on the normal date, on March 31 the ginning factories were stopped, with the result that the cotton season produced 185,000 tonnes of exportable fibre," said Moussa Yattara, a technical advisor to the CMDT.

He said more that more than half the ginned cotton had already been exported.

The CMDT said the production decline this season was due to lower rainfall, which led to a decrease in the cultivated area.

The principal export market for Mali's cotton - which employs some 3.5 million farmers in the West African country - is dominated by China, which purchases nearly half of production, according to government figures.