After a gap of 10 days, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), the government agency for cotton procurement in the country, today raised the sale prices of cotton upto Rs 1,000 per candy.
"There was no change in the selling price of cotton in the past couple of days. The agency today raised the sale prices in the range of Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 per candy for various varieties of cotton in the country," said Subhash Grover, managing director, Cotton Corporation of India.
CCI raises the selling prices considering the market trends. "The cotton merchants have increased the price of cotton. Same is the case in the international market. Following the market scenario, the agency has also effected a rise in prices", he explained.
"During the last two weeks, the sale prices remained unchanged due to lack of trading activity in the market. The sale price for Sankar-6 is now Rs 24,500 per candy," said Kishor Shah of Central Gujarat Cotton Dealers Association (SGCDA).
"The prices of equivalent varieties from Maharashtra and Aurangabad have been raised at Rs 23,200 per candy", Shah added.
As on May 1, 2009, CCI's cotton purchase stood at 89 lakh bales, of which 27 lakh bales were unsold. So far, CCI has purchased 1.22 million bales from Gujarat. Out of the total purchase from the state, 7.5 lakh bales are unsold.
It may be mentioned here that CCI also offers discount on purchase of cotton from it. If the discounts are taken into account, prices quoted by CCI come at par with market prices.