PREVAILING market conditions seem to have been proving a game changer for cotton as its price has surpassed the historic Rs 10,000 per quintal mark on Tuesday. It is for the first time in the history when raw cotton has fetched the farmers Rs 10,200 per quintal. Many dealers based in the Hinganghat Madni (in Wardha district) and farmers confirmed that the price of the farm produce made a record high on Tuesday. It is important to note that the prices of cotton were going through the roof in the current season which has witnessed drastic fall in production due to unfavourable climatic conditions. Rohit Rander, one of the leading cotton dealers, told The Hitavada that cotton is in great demand in many countries which is eventually pushing up the prices.

 

Besides, the current season has also seen drastic fall in cotton yields. “This has created a mismatch between supply and demand of cotton,” he added. Against the estimated production of 345 lakh bales of cotton for the current season, the traders are expecting only 300-310 lakh bales and so they are aggressively buying the commodity However, Rander is not very optimistic on further hike in the cotton market and said that the current level might not sustain for too long. “The market may see a correction in the cotton prices in near future as many parameters are not supporting it,” he felt. As soon as the cotton harvesting season began in October (2021), most of the developed nations including the USA started buying the commodity in huge quantities. Similarly, the farm produce was also in great demand in the domestic markets and thus the prices started flying up right from the early days.

 

In October 2021, cotton prices had crossed the level of Rs 8,000 per quintal. The cotton price posted further hike in the following days to reach the new all time high of Rs 10,200 per quintal on Tuesday, a level well above the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 6,025 per quintal for the current season. Apart from this, the natural fiber is trading at a high level in most of the commodity exchanges around the world. Moreover, the Cotton Corporation of India is reportedly running short of carry forward stock. Farmers of the region, who often fail to recover even the cultivation costs, had sold raw cotton at a price between Rs 5,400 and Rs 6,000 per quintal in the last season when its MSP was Rs 5,825 per quintal. Cotton is one of the major crop in theVidarbha which has also seen a large number of the farmers’ suicides in recent past. But in the current season, the farmers are quite happy to see the price making a new high every passing day.