India October cotton arrivals at 2.45 mln bales

MUMBAI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - India's October cotton arrivals stood at 2.45 million bales mainly on account of good arrivals in Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab, an official with Cotton Association of India (CAI) told Reuters on Friday.

The cotton marketing year is from October to September.

"India cotton arrivals have risen significantly in October...the prices are better this year also exports are picking up which is bringing traders into the market," said a senior official with CAI, who didn't wish to be quoted.

India's raw cotton exports in October shot up 293 percent to 115,637 bales (of 170 kg each) over the corresponding period the previous year, a government official said on Wednesday.

"Overseas demand is back on track mainly from China where crop size is expected to be lower," the official in the Ministry of Textiles, had said. See [ID:nBMB009018]

World cotton output is forecast to drop by 5 percent, or 1.1 million tonnes, to 22.3 million tonnes in 2009/10, dragged by China, where the crop is projected to drop by 16 percent to 6.75 million tonnes, an international farm group said on Monday. See [nN02465282]

India, the worl'd second largest producer, is expected to harvest a crop of about 30.5 million bales, higher than the previous year's estimated output of 29 million bales.

(Reporting by Sourav Mishra; Editing by Sunil Nair)