Govt Cotton Sales Surge on Price Cuts and Discounts
03-Sep-2025 08:56 PM
Mumbai. Textile mills and traders are showing great interest in buying the existing stock of cotton with the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), an agency subordinate to the Union Textile Ministry, because on one hand the corporation has reduced the reserve price of cotton and has announced a discount of Rs 400-600 per candy (356 kg) on buying a certain quantity of cotton, while on the other hand, in view of the extension of monsoon rains,
this time the demand for cotton in government stock has increased due to the possibility of late start of plucking and preparation of new cotton stock and arrival in the markets. According to industry analysts, the moisture content of the new season's cotton will remain high for a long time, while CCI has a stock of dry cotton.
CCI has started a discount scheme from September 1 which will continue till September 15. In the first two days itself, the corporation was successful in selling 3.50 lakh bales (each bale of 170 kg) of cotton, which is much more than in August. On 1 and 2 September, most of the cotton was purchased by traders.
Traders bought cotton to build stock. On the other hand, in view of the US tariff, textile mills are showing less interest in buying government cotton. The lifting of cotton yarn is decreasing and the price is also falling.
It is noteworthy that in the marketing season of 2024-25, about 100 lakh bales of cotton were purchased by the Cotton Corporation of India from Indian farmers at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and out of this, about 72 lakh bales were also sold by 31 August 2025.
In September, the corporation had a stock of about 27 lakh bales of cotton left and it is keen to sell as much of this stock as possible before the arrival of the upcoming new crop. For this reason, the discount scheme has been started.
Compared to last year, this time the domestic sowing area of cotton has decreased by 2.62 lakh hectares, while there is a possibility of heavy damage to the crop due to floods and rains. This will lead to a decrease in cotton production.
CCI has reduced the minimum reserve price of cotton by Rs 2000 per candy from August 19 and now has announced a discount of up to Rs 600 per candy. In this way, the price of government cotton has decreased by Rs 2600 per candy which is 5 percent of its total unit price.