World cotton production in 2006/07 forecast at 115.7mn bales
25 Nov '06
4 min read
U.S. cotton planted area rose 1 million acres this season to 15.3 million. While area increased, large abandonment, particularly in the Southwest, resulted in a harvested area of nearly 1 million acres below last season.
At 12.8 million acres harvested, the abandonment rate is estimated at 16 percent, the largest since 1998/99. The national yield is currently estimated at 798 pounds per harvested acre, below both last season and the 2004/05 record of 855 pounds, but above the 5-year average.
U.S. cotton exports are projected to reach 16.2 million bales in 2006/07, 10 percent below the 2005/06 record of 18 million.
With foreign cotton imports expected to be their second highest this season, the United States will once again help supply the cotton import demand associated with rising global consumption.
As a result, the U.S. share of global cotton trade is forecast to decline slightly to 39 percent.
U.S. cotton mill consumption is forecast at 5.2 million bales in 2006/07, 700,000 bales below the previous season and half the level of just a decade ago.
Continued competition from cotton textile and apparel imports has forced further reductions in U.S. textile capacity this season.
Despite a slower growth projection for imported products in 2006, competition will remain strong and push U.S. cotton mill use to its lowest in 75 years.
U.S. cotton stocks at the beginning of 2006/07 were estimated at just over 6 million bales, the largest in 4 years and similar to 2001/02.
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