Sharp drop in southern hemisphere cotton production
03/12/2014
Northern hemisphere production is projected to increase 2% to 23 million tons with lower yields offsetting the 4% gain in area.
In contrast, the Southern Hemisphere is forecast down 12% to 3 million hectares, the lowest level in five seasons, due to low world prices.
Brazilian farmers are less enthusiastic to plant cotton this season as many find that even with government support, current prices do not cover productions costs and area is forecast to fall 13% to 975,000 hectares.
The ongoing drought in Australia has left soil dry and reduced irrigation supplies. Area is forecast down 28% to 282,000 hectares, and production could decrease by 35% to 580,000 tons, the lowest volume since 2009/10.
For Southern and Eastern Africa, area is projected down 7% to 1.4 million hectares. However, unlike last season, rains have been more plentiful at sowing, and yield is likely to improve, resulting in 329,000 tons of lint for the region, down 2% from 2013/14.
After declining 1% in 2013/14, world consumption is expected to recover by 3.8% to 24.4 million tonnes.
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