AHMEDABAD, Sept 28: India's cotton harvest is gaining pace and industry officials are optimistic of a bumper yield of 26 million bales (170 kg each) in the year ending September 2007, traders said on Thursday.

While harvesting is well underway in the major cotton growing states of Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh, scattered rains have delayed work in coastal areas of the western state of Maharashtra, and in southern Andhra Pradesh, they said.

India produced a record 24.2 million bales of cotton in 2005-06 (Oct-Sept), 12 per cent up on a year earlier.

“Harvesting operations have begun in Punjab, Gujarat. Until now there has been no report of pest attack,” said Manoj Gala, a cotton trader in Gujarat, India's leading cotton state.

“The cotton quality is good and we are expecting plenty of export orders.” Farm ministry officials said they expect much of the output to be exported to China, Taiwan and the Middle East.

Last year, cotton exports from India were estimated at around 4.6 million bales, of which Gujarat exported 3.9 million, mainly to China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

“A reduction in the prices of transgenic cotton seeds and plenty of rainfall have given a very high yield. High profit margins have also lured farmers to shift to cotton cultivation,” said K.B. Patel of the All Gujarat Cotton Producers' Association.

Traders said 90 percent of Gujarat's area under cotton was growing transgenic varieties, while 65 per cent of the area in Maharashtra and 40 per cent in Punjab were under Bt cotton.

In 2002, India allowed farmers to plant cotton containing a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium species that causes lethal paralysis in the digestive tract of bollworm.

Industry officials also said many farmers in Gujarat have switched to cotton from groundnut cultivation as they expect cotton to fetch attractive prices. —Reuters