There has been a spurt in demand from China for Indian cotton. Five lakh bales will be shipped to China in the next two months.
It is to be noted Indian standard unit of 10 lakh equals 1 million.
The Cotton Association of India had estimated exports for the 2018-19 season to decline by 27 per cent to 50 lakh bales compared with exports of 69 lakh bales last year. India’s total cotton export shipment is around 32 lakh bales up to February 2019.

There has been uncertainty in the global cotton trade due to the ongoing trade war between the US and China. Though there will be no trade now with Pakistan for a few months, there’s good export demand for Indian cotton from many other countries like Bangladesh, China, Vietnam, Indonesia and many more. During the past couple of weeks, around four lakh to five lakh bales of cotton have been sold by Indian exporters to China for March-April shipments. Pakistan accounts for ten per cent of India’s cotton exports. India has already exported 6.5 lakh bales of cotton to Pakistan. Increase in export demand from other countries is likely to compensate for the loss of trade with Pakistan.

Prices of raw cotton are ruling below the minimum support price levels. The decline in the domestic prices has brought export parity.