CAB cuts cotton crop estimate by 8.6%

The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB) lowered the 2008-09 (October-September) crop output estimate by 8.62 per cent to 29 million bales from its earlier estimate of 32.2 million bales, Textile Commissioner Anil Joshi said on Friday. Output is expected to fall because of lower acreage, delayed, inadequate or excessive rains, and crop disease, he said. 

The cotton crop output estimate for 2008-09 is also lower from 31.5 million bales estimated for 2007-08, he said. Total acreage for 2008-09 is estimated at 9.373 million hectares, down from 9.55 million hectares estimated in the previous year, said Joshi.