"As per the Cotton Advisory Board (CAB), cotton production in India in the current season (2017-18) is expected to touch 37 million bales growing at 7.25 per cent. The northern zone produced 4.6 million bales of cotton during 2016-17, registering a growth of 28.67 per cent. And Haryana emerged the topmost cotton producing state with a production of 2.05 million bales of cotton.

As per CAB, the central zone is expected to produce 20.95 million bales of cotton with Gujarat being the topmost cotton producing state. It is expected to produce 10.4 million bales of cotton with a growth of 9.47 per cent.  The southern part of India is likely to produce 9.9 million bales, a growth of over 10 per cent over last season. Out of the four states, Telangana produces the most cotton with 53 per cent share in the zone and 14 per cent in the country's total production.

 Rise in cultivated land

In the current season (2017-18) the area under cotton cultivation is expected to rise 14.95 per cent to touch 12.45 million hectares. In the northern zone, it is estimated to rise 16.44 per cent to reach 1.54 million hectares with a yield of 616.58 kg/hectare. Haryana, with .57 million hectares of cotton cultivation, remains the top state in the zone.

The central zone is expected to witness a growth of 9.62 percent, cultivating an area of 7.43 million hectares and yield of 479.15 kg/hectare.

Maharashtra is expected to increase cultivation area by 10.71 per cent to

4.20 million hectares and a cotton yield of 343.48 kg/hectare.

In the southern zone, cotton cultivation witnessed a drop of -21.41 per cent to 2.53 million hectares in the last season. The southern zone has 23 per cent share of the total area under cultivation cotton in India. In the current season (2017-18) the area for cotton will witness a rise of 29.17 per cent in the zone with 3.27 million hectares and yield of 514.36 kg/hectare of cotton.

Telangana leads with 56 per cent area under cotton cultivation in the zone.

The state is expected to witness a major rise of 34.63 per cent with 1.89 million hectares and a yield of 492.88 kg/hectare.

Growth in trade

After three years of continuous decline, India finally witnessed a 6.4 per cent growth in cotton exports in 2017-18. The commodity gained 19 per cent in total textile and clothing exports. Bangladesh remains the largest importer of Indian cotton as demand from China continued to drop over the last fiscal year. Cotton export to Bangladesh in 2017-18, was valued at

$1816.21 million with growth of 13.8 per cent over previous fiscal year.