Cotton Association of India (CAI) has released its first estimates that cotton crop production in the country will be around 33.6 million bales of 170 kg each during 2016-17 season.

The cotton season will begin from October 1, 2016 and this year cotton crop output will be similar to the last year which was released in July 2016 that has estimate to be at 33.77 million bales of 170 kgs. each.

The projected Balance Sheet drawn by the CAI estimated total cotton supply for the cotton season 2016-17 at 40.0 million bales while the domestic consumption is estimated at 30.8 million bales thus leaving an available surplus of 9.2 million bales, CAI said in a statement.

Acreage under cotton during the ensuing 2016-17 crop year is expected to be lower by about 10 per cent than that of the current year.  However, productivity is likely to be higher during the 2016-17 season due to the better weather conditions across all cotton growing regions of the country.  Therefore, the crop for the 2016-17 cotton season is expected to be similar to the cotton crop for the cotton season 2015-16.