Water shortage in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana is likely to bring down India’s cotton crop to the lowest in eight years. Cotton crop estimate for Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana has been reduced by 1.50 lakh bales, two lakh bales and two lakh bales respectively.

Due to water shortages following deficient rainfall in growing regions, farmers in about 80 per cent of the cotton crop area have uprooted plants. As a result, there has been no scope for a third and fourth pickings.

For a normal cotton crop, the picking continues for four rounds. However, after the first two pickings in water-scarce regions, the cotton plants have started drying up, leaving no possibility of further flowering and boll development. Total cotton supply till the end of the season in September 2019 will be around 385 lakh bales, consisting of the opening stock of 23 lakh bales at the beginning of the season, the crop of 335 lakh bales and imports at around 27 lakh bales.

Domestic consumption of the fiber is estimated at 320 lakh bales and estimated exports for the season 2018-19 at 51 lakh bales, about 18 lakh bales lower than the export of 69 lakh bales estimated during the last year.