MUMBAI, Dec 17 (Reuters) - India's cottonseed oilcake, or kapaskhali, futures snapped losses of the past two sessions on Thursday 17 December tracking good exports, analysts said.

Photo: AFP

Kapaskhali, a by-product of cottonseed, is used as cattlefeed and is largely consumed in the north-western states of India.

Indian traders have exported 428,076 bales of raw cotton (of 170 kg each) in the first two months of the 2009/10 marketing year, up 19 percent from a year ago.

India's cotton exports in 2009/10 are expected to increase 57 percent to 5.5 million bales, A.B. Joshi, textile commissioner and chairman of Cotton Advisory Board (CAB), had told Reuters earlier this month. See [ID:nBOM417238]

India is likely to harvest 29.5 million bales of cotton in 2009/10, down from 30.5 million bales estimated earlier, as floods and cyclone damaged the crop in southern and western part of the country.

The January contract NCDF0 ended up 0.40 percent at 1,233 rupees per 100 kg.

"Prices may rise up to 1,300 rupees by December end," said a trader in Akola, a major trading centre.

(Reporting by Sourav Mishra; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu)