India does it again: cotton export ban

Exactly at a time of a sort of normalisation of cotton prices India makes an unexpected move and bans cotton exports with the argument that this is beneficial to the needs of its own textile industry but not to the global textile industry using cotton

One reason for that move might be the fact that Indian cotton exporters have shipped out 9.4 million bales of cotton since last October instead of the official expected seven million bales and 8.4 million for the entire season. This means that needs of India’s own textile industry is no longer covered and the country might be forced to import cotton in order that the textile industry can fulfil its obligations.

The Indian export ban will certainly create high price increases for cotton and create a difficult time for cotton textile specialists because they are already affected by the global economic slowdown.