The Cotton Advisory Board has estimated the cotton production in 2009-10 (October- September) to be 295 lakh bales.
In August this year, the board estimated the production for 2009-10 to be 305 lakh bales.
According to D. K. Nair, Secretary General of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, who participated in the board meeting recently, the production estimate was revised because of the damage to the crop due to drought in some of the Northern States and excessive rains in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
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Mr. Nair said the confederation sought assessment of the actual surplus that would be available for exports. It also said that exports should be phased out in such a way that the domestic industry had quality cotton. Cotton consumption by the domestic textile industry was expected to go up as it was recovering and was estimated to be over 200 lakh bales this year, he said.