Cotton acreage may fall 7% in 2015-16: CAI

Cotton acreage in India, the top grower in the world, is likely to drop by the most in over a decade this year, as plunging prices and fears of a drought prompt farmers to switch to cultivating pulses in the hope for better returns, a top trade body official said.

Lower output at the world's No.2 cotton exporter, after the United States, should help give legs to a recovery in global benchmark prices that have risen 13 per cent from a five-year low of 57.05 cents per pound plumbed in January.

"Since other crops are giving better returns, we may see a drop of around seven per cent in cotton acreage," said Dhiren Sheth, president of the Cotton Association of India (CAI). That will be the steepest fall since 2002-03.