NEW DELHI: India's cotton imports are likely to jump 80 percent from a year ago as production could fall to the lowest level in nine years due to low rainfall in key growing region, a senior industry official said.

Higher imports by the world's biggest cotton producer could support global prices, trading near their lowest in more than a year. The drop in Indian supplies could help rivals such as the United States, Brazil and Australia increase cargoes to key Asian buyers such as China, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

"The production is not sufficient to fulfil local consumption. From March onwards imports will pick up," said Atul Ganatra, President of the Cotton Association of India (CAI).

The Country could import 2.7 million bales in 2018/19 marketing year ending on September 30, up from 1.5 million bales a year ago, he said. India imports cotton mainly from the United States, Brazil and Egypt. The drop in output is likely to lead to lower cotton shipments from India.

India's exports could fall 27.5 percent from a year ago to 5 million bales, the lowest level in a decade, Ganatra said.

In June, traders were expecting India to export as much as 10 million bales amid strong demand from China due to the trade dispute between Beijing and Washington.