Rajkot: The rising price of Cotton has left the farmers laughing all the way to the bank, whereas the Yarn producers are in dire straits.

The very same cotton that fetched Rs 75,000- Rs 76,000 at the beginning of March 2022, crossed the psychological barrier of Rs 1,00,000 and was sold at Rs 1,05,000 in Manavadar on Friday.

Experts are opining that against estimates of 350 lakh bales, the rumours are now doing the rounds that only 2.75 crore bales have been produced in the country, leading to the unprecedented surge in the prices of cotton.

Some experts also attribute the red hot cotton prices to the drought like conditions in the US, which has sent New York Futures prices surging that has also had a cascading impact on the domestic prices.

On the other hand, yarn producers who are unable to recover even the production costs, are having to cut production by 15-20%. To recover these losses, yarn producers have lowered their production by keeping their mills shut on certain days of the week. There are over 150 yarn producing mills in Gujarat and existence for each one of them has become a grueling task. Thus, they are struggling for their very existence in trying to keep yarn production costs at affordable levels.

On the other hand, when you consider the farmers who have sowed cotton on their land, the commodity has turned out to be worth its weight in gold. While the government’s MSP is Rs 1,205, farmers are getting a price of Rs 2,500-2,800 in the open market. In fact, top quality cotton fetched a price of Rs 3,000 for a second time in the Jetpur yard and farmers are rejoicing.

Traders say that there is no precedent in history available for the current prices of cotton. Certain traders on condition of anonymity say that top quality cotton that can fetch such unprecedented prices is now left with a few farmers only in modest quantities. Those who had hoarded cotton hoping that the prices will rise, their hopes are turning into white gold, the trader added.

Experts claim that though sowing of cotton was significantly higher in this year, unseasonal rains and adverse weather conditions have impacted ultimate production. Because of scarcity of top quality cotton, prices have turned red hot. On Friday, cotton fetched Rs 2,710 in Rajkot yard for the first time, Rs 2,791 in Gondal, Rs 2,736 in Botad, Rs 2,700 in Babra. The red hot commodity prices have cheered up sentiment amongst cotton farmers. DeshGujarat