India, the world's second-biggest cotton producer and exporter, said it expected a record harvest of 40 million bales in this crop year that started on October 1, a government statement said on Monday. But despite this season's higher output, exports in the new season are pegged lower at 9 million bales, compared with last year's 11.8 million bales due to the subdued level of demand expected from top buyer China, a government official said after a meeting of state-run Cotton Advisory Board.
The government's output figure is close to the 40.37 million bales that the Cotton Association of India (CAI) estimated in August.