Cotton is one of the principal crops of India and plays a vital role in the country’s economic growth by providing substantial employment and making significant contributions to export earnings. Cotton is an immensely important crop for the sustainable economy of India and livelihood of Indian farming community. India accounts for about 32% of the global cotton ara and contributes to 21% of the global cotton produce, currently ranking second after china. About 70% of total cotton is produced in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

Cotton is majorly grown in Raichur region of Karnataka. Kharif grown Cotton started flowing slowly into the markets. Cotton growing farmers are in distress condition as the price ruling over the months is volatile. Under such a fix, to help the farmers to take right decision regarding place and time sale of the commodity, the prices of cotton that would prevail in major markets of North Karnataka during post harvest months have been predicted by the Domestic and Export Market Intelligence Cell, Department of Agribusiness Management, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.

          Study has been taken up in forecasting the prices of cotton by using the past 22 years monthly modal price data and subjecting them to rigorous time series analysis by using different models. The forecast prices are further fine tuned by obtaining the valuable opinions of agricultural scientists, traders of the crop, progressive farmers etc. The govt. policies with regard to cotton trade, Import-export policies and the prices prevailing in other important markets in the country were also considered to fine tune the price forecast.

          As revealed by the forecast analysis of cotton by using 22 years monthly price data and further by keeping in view of valuable suggestions of traders, agricultural scientists and progressive farmers, the prices of cotton is expected to hover around Rs. 3900 to Rs. 4100 per quintal during the month of December 2013, Rs. 3800 to 4100 in the month of January and Rs. 4000-4300 in the month of February 2014 in Raichur regulated market. The prices are expected to be better off during the month of February .So farmers are advised to sell their produce in the month of February to fetch higher price. The storage cost is around Rs.4 per quintal per month. Farmers are advised to bring dried, cleaned and pure white cotton to markets, since it fetches higher prices.