NEW YORK: The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) on Monday raised its outlook for record global cotton inventories by the end of the 2013/14 crop year, even as demand is expected to reverse a multi-year downtrend and output is forecast to fall due to lower plantings and yields.

Global inventories will reach 19.94 million tonnes in the 2013/14 end-July, up by over 2 million tonnes from the previous season, ICAC said in its monthly outlook.

World mill use is expected to rise to 23.60 million tonnes from 23.34 million tonnes in 2012/13, the group said.

Even so, world production will again outpace demand this season. ICAC pegged world output at 25.75 million tonnes, down slightly from a January forecast and over 4 percent from 26.84 million tonnes the previous season.