Cotton Sowing Area in Australia is Forecast to Fall by 2% to Around 434,000 Hectares

The area of plantation for cotton in Australia, in the 2013-14 harvest season, is forecast to fall by 2 percent to around 434,000 hectares, according to the Australian Crop Report—September 2013 edition, released by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES), under the country’s Department of Agriculture.

According to the report, the decline in the area of plantation is due to the expected decline in available supplies of irrigation water.

Cotton production in New South Wales is forecast to decrease by 1 percent in 2013-14, to around 654, 000 tons of cotton. This reflects a 2 percent decline in the area planted for harvest in the region and an estimated 1 percent rise in the average yield of 2.3 tons/hectare of cotton.

Production of cotton in the region of Queensland is forecast to decline by 1 percent during the harvest period to 336,000 tons. The area planted for cotton is again forecast to fall by 2 percent in the region to 155,000 hectares, but average yield of cotton is estimated to increase around 2.2 tons/hectare.

In the fiscal year 2011-12, Australian cotton growers produced the highest quality upland cotton in the world and 85 percent of the country’s cotton crop met the base grade of ‘middling’ with only 15 percent at grades below middling (middling refers to 31 colour; 3 leaf; 1.13 staple; 3.5 – 4.5 NCL micronaire).

In 2012-13, cotton growers of Australia produced an estimated 4.15 to 4.3 million bales of cotton, each of 217 kg.

Cotton planting in Australia begins in September to November, whereas cotton picking in the country normally runs from March until late May. Cotton growing takes place from November to February.