India, the world’s second-biggest cotton producer and exporter, has asked the state-run Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to accelerate buying of raw cotton from farmers at minimum support price, textile minister, Mr. Santosh Gangwar told reporters.
He said “CCI has been asked to step up its procurement operation by opening more centres wherever necessary.”
The CCI has so far bought 250,000 bales of 170 kg each in the current season, mostly from the southern states, the minister said.
In the last six months cotton prices in the local market have fallen by nearly a quarter, following a drop in overseas prices.