Delivering the presidential speech at the association's 76th annual general meeting here today, Kotak said the total area under cotton crop in 1998-99 was set to exceed that of 1997-98.

Referring to a setback in cotton production during 1997-98, Kotak said adverse factors like prolonged dry spell, heavy rains and hailstorms brought down the cotton production drastically to around 15.4 million bales as against the peak level of 17.8 million bales in 1996-97.

Regarding the resumption of futures trading in cotton, he said "most of the tasks have been completed. The new sets of by-laws have been critically examined and submitted to the forward markets commission and it is hoped that the commission will clear the same immediately".

"We hope to take up mock trading during the last week of Septemberand the actual trading by the month-end," he said.

Since the last three decades after the futures trading in cotton was suspended in the country, changes in economic activity and cotton industry have gone beyond recognition, kotak said and added, +cotton production has risen more than three-fold while the number of varieties has multiplied.+

the pattern of trade has also seen significant changes. Cotton lint was subject to government fixed floor and ceiling prices during the 60's but these have since been discontinued and only minimum support prices are fixed for kapas to safeguard farmers' interest, he stated.

With the advent of computer age, collection, storage and analysis of data on various aspects have become instantaneous and more dependable projections of futures scenario have become a practical possibility, he said.

These vast changes in so many aspects have necessitated the total overhauling of the by-laws of futures trading and creation of modern infrastructural facilities, kotak pointedout.