The Cotton Association of India Monday lowered its December estimate of the cotton crop by 5.25 lakh bales than its previous estimate to 335 lakh bales for the 2018-19 season.
The decline is mainly due to farmers uprooting cotton plants due to moisture deficiency following deficient rainfall, CAI said in a release here.
Earlier, in the November estimate, CAI had projected 340.25 lakh bales.
The CAI has reduced the crop estimate for Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana by 1.50 lakh bales at 80.30 lakh bales, 2 lakh bales at 71.25 lakh bales and 2 lakh bales at 46.90 lakh bales, respectively.
Total cotton supply projected by the CAI during the period from October 2018 to December 2018 at 142.50 lakh bales consists of the arrival of 115.97 lakh bales, imports of 3.53 lakh bales and the opening stock at the beginning of the season estimated at 23 lakh bales.
Further, the CAI has estimated cotton consumption during October-December 2018 at 80 lakh bales while the export shipment of cotton up to December 31, 2018 has been estimated at 17 lakh bales.
Stock at the end of December 2018, is estimated at 45.50 lakh bales including 30 lakh bales with textile mills and the remaining 15.50 lakh bales with Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) and others including MNCs, traders, ginners among others.
The total cotton supply till end of the cotton season, up to September 30, 2019, has been estimated at 385 lakh bales consisting of the opening stock of 23 lakh bales at the beginning of the season, cotton crop for the season estimated at 335 lakh bales and imports estimated at 27 lakh bales, which are higher by 12 lakh bales from the previous year's import estimated at 15 lakh bales.
CAI has estimated domestic consumption of 320 lakh bales which is lower by 4 lakh bales compared to the consumption estimated during the last month.
The estimated exports for the season 2018-19 at 51 lakh bales, which are lower by 18 lakh bales compared to the export of 69 lakh bales estimated during the last year.
The carry-over stock at the end of the 2018-19 season is estimated at 14 lakh bales.