Browse Data and Analysis

USDA estimates and forecasts for cotton supply and demand are on an August-July marketing year (MY) for all countries, while estimates published by many governmental or private groups in other countries are based on local MYs. The local MY for India is October-September.

South Asia, which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, accounts for 24 percent of the world’s population, with 1.84 billion people in 2019.

U.S. exporters who want to enter or expand in India’s market have an array of opportunities available due to the country’s growing population and increasing demand for food and agricultural goods.

Vietnam’s demand for raw cotton has risen steadily for six years, with August-to-January (Marketing YTD) imports at their highest levels ever.

India offers promising export growth prospects for U.S. agriculture with a large and rapidly expanding middle class, rising disposable incomes and shifting consumption patterns...

In recent years, India’s exports have demonstrated phenomenal growth – especially to developing countries, which now account for nearly 80 percent of Indian exports.

In the past decade, India has emerged as a major agricultural exporter, with exports climbing from just over $5 billion in 2003 to a record of more than $39 billion in 2013.