The Indian Cotton Federation has marked 361 lakh bales of cotton crop for the 2013-14 season, though delayed by a month. According to J. Thulasidharan, President, ICF, the crop is good, quality wise.

As per the state wise ICF survey of the crop shows that Gujarat tops in production (125 lakh bales) followed by Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh at 70 and 65 lakh bales respectively.

The production in the central zone comprising Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan has been estimated at 55 lakh bales.

Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh account for 18 lakh bales each. While the Tamil Nadu production continues to stay close around 5 lakh bales.

The Federation is expecting cotton arrivals to pick up and prices to ease after Sankaranthi.