Cotton production estimate cut by 5 lakh bales

26-Mar-2025 01:45 PM

New Delhi. The Committee on Production and Consumption of Cotton (COCPC) has now reduced the estimate of domestic production of cotton for the current marketing season of 2024-25 to 294.25 lakh bales, which is 5 lakh bales or 1.67 percent less than the estimate of 299.26 lakh bales made in November 2024.

Each bale of cotton weighs 170 kg. The committee has reduced the cotton production estimate based on the possibility of decline in crop yield rate and yield in the country's most prominent producing state - Gujarat.

In Gujarat, the production of cotton was earlier estimated to be 84.01 lakh bales during the 2024-25 season, which has now been reduced by 15 percent to 71.34 lakh bales.

The main reason for this is the reduction in the estimate of the average yield rate of cotton in the state.

Earlier the average productivity of cotton was estimated to be 597 kg per hectare but now it has been reduced to 507 kg per hectare.

Actually the yield rate was affected due to unfavourable weather conditions during the crop development phase.

On the other hand, based on the expectation of better yield rate in Maharashtra, which is in second place till now, the estimate of cotton production has been increased by 5 percent or 5.08 lakh bales from 84.01 lakh bales to 89.09 lakh bales.

The estimate of average yield rate of cotton there is also expected to increase from 352 kg per hectare to 370.66 kg per hectare.

With this, Maharashtra has now become the largest cotton producing state in the country, leaving behind Gujarat.

Telangana remains at number three. There too, like Maharashtra, the weather conditions remained favourable for the crop to a large extent.

In Madhya Pradesh too, the cotton production estimate has been increased from 14.12 lakh bales to 15.35 lakh bales.