Australian cotton slumps
09/01/2020
The bank estimates 2019/20 at 735,000 bales - 16% of 2017/18 production.
All major production regions will feel the pinch with Queensland and central New South Wales being hardest hit.
The drought and fires have meant producers - and the country in general - have had to prioritise water, meaning less to irrigate cotton.
In the Riverina region, water has been diverted to higher margin crops such as almonds while in Queensland, farmers have switched to less thirsty cereal crops.
It is unclear at this stage how much land has been lost to the bushfires, which have been raging since September and have claimed the lives of an estimated 1 billion animals, according to scientists from the University of Sydney.
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