New Delhi, Sept 5 India, the world’s third largest cotton producer, is expected to produce a record crop for the second straight year but lack of rains could spoil the party, a top trade official said on Monday.

The country’s cotton production in the year to September 2006 is likely to reach 23.5 million bales, up from 21.5 million bales a year ago because of more area under cultivation, good weather and extensive use of transgenic seeds. “The crop looks excellent in most growing areas,” Rakesh Rathi, president of the Northern India Cotton Association, said. “The central and western parts of the country need one last spell of rains before harvesting next month,” Mr Rathi added.

Production could take a hit in western Gujarat, Maharashtra and central Madhya Pradesh which have not received much rainfall for the past almost a month, said Mr Rathi. “But if we get one good spell by mid-September, then there will be no problem,” he added.

The land under cotton has increased to around 8.3 million hectares from 8.2 million hectares last year, according to the farm ministry. India’s cotton crop, prone to pest attacks like bollworm, has remained largely free of pests this year because of more use of pest-resistant genetically modified cotton. In 2002, India allowed transgenic cotton that contains a gene from Bacillus thuringiensis, a bacterium species