india's cotton output for new seed

India's Cotton Output May Reach Record on New Seed June 03 2008 India's Cotton Output May Reach Record on New Seed June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Cotton output in India, the world's third-largest grower, may rise to a record next year as farmers increase their use of genetically altered seeds to boost yields, a government official said. Production may total 32.5 million bales in the year starting October, compared with 31.5 million bales estimated for this year's crop, Textiles Commissioner Jagadip Narayan Singh said in an interview from New Delhi. A bale weighs 170 kilograms (375 pounds) in India. A record harvest may boost India's exports to countries including China, the world's biggest user of the fiber, and increase competition for suppliers from the U.S. and Uzbekistan. Higher production may also weigh on cotton prices, which gained 46 percent the past year as U.S. farmers reduced planting in favor of wheat and soybeans. ``With the area under genetically modified cotton expected to increase, production is certain to hit another record,'' Singh said. ``Yield is steadily rising and Maharashtra may record some increase in production because of better irrigation facilities.'' Maharashtra on India's western-central coast is the nation's biggest cotton-producing region. Land planted to gene-modified cotton seeds, including Monsanto's Bollgard II variety, may rise as much as 10 percent next year, Singh said. India's average per-hectare yield has almost doubled to 560 kilograms since it allowed farmers to use modified seeds for the first time in 2002. Farmers sowed gene-altered seeds across two- thirds of the 9.6 million hectares (23.7 million acres) planted to cotton this year, up from 50 percent a year earlier. Chinese Demand Higher output and improved fiber quality may boost India's exports next season as Chinese mills turn to the South Asian nation to bridge a decline in raw material from the U.S., the world's biggest supplier, D.K. Nair, director-general of the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry, said. ``You have a situation where exports are more profitable for traders than selling to Indian mills,'' Nair said by telephone from New Delhi. ``Rising Chinese demand and lower U.S. production is pushing up exports.'' Prices may stabilize around 70 cents a pound for the rest of the year, he said. Cotton reached 92.86 cents a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange on March 5, the highest for a most-active contract since September 1995. The December contract fell 1.33 cents, or 1.8 percent, to settle at 72.83 cents a pound yesterday. Exports India's exports may total 8.5 million bales in the year ending Sept. 30, up 47 percent from a year earlier, according to the nation's Cotton Advisory Board. China will increase cotton imports 37 percent in the marketing year starting Aug. 1 as demand rises and production slips, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said May 28. Imports will rise to 3.7 million tons, or 17 million bales, from an estimated 2.7 million tons this year, according to a report from the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service. The U.S. will produce 14.5 million bales in the year starting Aug. 1, down from 19.2 million in the current year, the USDA forecast May 9. A bale in the U.S. weighs 480 pounds (218 kilograms). Source: Bloomberg