Australia: Drought Decimates Cotton
13 March 2007 Current estimates place the Australian cotton area at 143,000 hectares (Ha), potentially the lowest sown area since 1983-84. According to ABARE, abandonment is one of the reasons for this low figure as producers with lower water allocations have redirected water to focus on smaller areas.
Central Queensland is the only significant cotton-growing region in Australia to receive average to above average rainfall this summer. However, this region is preparing for harvest and some of the crop is believed to have suffered weather damage as a result of late rain. More recently, heavy rainfall has been received in coastal and tableland areas as well as northern New South Wales.
The forecast for cotton production for 2006/07 has been lowered to 1 million bales. This crop would be more than 60% below last year’s already stunted level.
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