Farmers asked to sell cotton stocks in Aug-October

Farmers in Tamil Nadu have been recommended to sell their cotton stocks in August-October as the prices are likely to go up to Rs.5,400 to Rs.5,600 per quintal as against the ruling price of Rs.4,900-Rs 5,200 for long staple cotton.
Agro Marketing Intelligence and Business Promotion Centre in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University here, has carried out an analysis in Konganapuram Cooperative Marketing Society and also with cotton traders, in order to inform the farmers about the selling and sowing decision.
It revealed that farmers in Tamil Nadu have a stock of 0.25 lakh bales of 170 kgs each of cotton, since February, expecting higher prices, if export demand picked up.

Since cotton is likely to fetch around Rs. 5,400 to Rs.5,600 per quintal, the Centre advised the farmers to dispose of their produce in August-October period.
On sowing, the analysis claimed that the prices of cotton sown in August are likely to be around rs.5,250 to rs.5,450 during harvest period of January-February and sowing can be taken up based on the prices.
The major sowing season of cotton in Tamil Nadu is January-February and August. The projected area of cotton was 1.17 lakh hectares, which was 8.5 per cent lesser than previous year and the production was five lakh bales, six per cent lesser than the last year, it said.