Cotton imports in April-May more than doubled

New Delhi. Cotton imports in April-May more than doubled from the same period last year after domestic production fell to a 15-year low. The industry wants the import duty to be lifted by the end of the crop year as it feels it will hit textile exports. The country imported raw and waste cotton worth $102 million in May compared with $43.8 million in the same month a year earlier, up 133 per cent. A total of $189 million worth of cotton was imported in April-May this fiscal compared with $81.7 million last year. Imports have risen 131 per cent in the past two months. Cotton production in the current crop year is expected to be the lowest in 15 years at 294 million bales. “Usually, India produces between 300 and 340 lakh bales and the last time the country recorded a drop in production below 300 lakh bales was in 2008-09 when the production came down to 290 lakh bales. Then the consumption was 229 lakh bales. However, now the consumption has gone up to 318 lakh bales,” said the general secretary of Southern India Mills Association.