US cotton crop harmed by hurricanes
Hurricanes have caused damage to this season’s cotton crop in the US, information resource Cotlook has reported.
The hurricane season in the Atlantic began in mid-June this year, but Cotlook said two storms in September, Hurricanes Francine and Helene, are the ones that have affected cotton farmers in the US the most.
More importantly, Helene, which formed on September 24 and dissipated on September 29, caused more than 250 fatalities.
In its market summary for September, Cotlook said damage these storms had caused in cotton-producing states had led the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to reduce its production forecast for this season to 14.5 million bales, down by around 600,000.
It said hot weather earlier in the season meant there was “a large proportion of open cotton” in fields in the south-east of the US when Francine and Helene hit.
Official assessments of the damage have still to come but early estimates indicate the loss of “several hundred thousand bales”, Cotlook said.
