With foodgrain production in 2010-2011 all set to wipe off the deficiencies of last year because of good monsoon, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Thursday assured the nation that output looks comfortable to meet all needs, but declined to lift the ban on wheat and rice exports despite good harvest.

The minister also said that though cotton prices are moving up forcing the textile industry to call for a outright ban on exports, he is not favour of a total ban.

?Textile industry is making noise, but this is the golden opportunity for farmers to get some better price,? Pawar told reporters told reporters after the the first official estimate of 2010-2011 kharif farm production was released by the government.

Cotton production in the 2010-11 crop year is projected at 33.5 million bales (1 bale=170 kg). With closing stock of 5.5 million bales in the 2009-10 crop year, the total availability of the natural fibre would be around 39 million bales this year against the estimated domestic demand of 22 million bales. Production last year was 29.5 million bales.

Senior ministers, including finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, Pawar, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma and textiles minister Dayanidhi Maran will meet next week to finalise the schedule for export registration. The cotton year starts from October and continues till September.

Meanwhile, according to an official release, the country is estimated to harvest a total of 114.63 million tonne of foodgrain in the 2010-11 kharif season, up from 103.84 million tonnes in the same season of the last crop year.

Rice production is estimated to rise by 6% to 80.41 million tonne during the 2010-11 kharif from 75.91 million tonnes in the same season last year. However, this would still be lower than the record 84.91 million tonnes in the 2008-09 kharif season.

Pulses production is expected to rise by 40% to 6 million tonnes from 4.3 million tonnes in the review period. Coarse cereals production is pegged at 28.22 million tonne in the current kharif season, which is also higher than the 23.63-million tonne output in the year-ago period.