Syria: Cotton Underachieves
15 January 2007 For the first time, Syrian farmers did not plant the full cotton area planned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, leading to an underproductive season. The US Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agroculture Service (USDA-FAS) reports that the Ministry’s Cotton Bureau, which controls much of the country’s cotton industry, typically sets planted area targets and encourages early planting and harvesting of seed cotton, and farmers usually surpass those targets. When irrigation water is not a constraint, farmers exceed the licensed areas and the crop exceeds one million tons of seed cotton. The 2006/2007 crop, however, is estimated at 650,000 tons of seed cotton, 28% percent below the production plan set by the Cotton Bureau. The Cotton Bureau planned to plant 225,800 hectares (Ha) of irrigated land with cotton in 2006/2007, and farmers planted only 213,700 Ha, or 96% of the planned area.
Cotton lint production is forecast at 225,000 tons of cotton fiber. About 150,000 tons of fiber is used locally for yarn production, with the balance of the crop (75,000 tons) exported.
High temperatures in August badly affected some cotton fields, and drying out of some irrigation wells also took out some area out of production. Some incidences of infestation by the American boll weevil were also reported. Furthermore, floods during the harvesting season in late September to early October destroyed some fields and harvested quantities of seed cotton. Through the middle of December, the Cotton Marketing Organization (CMO) bought only 630,000 tons of seed cotton from the farmers, 37% below its purchases from the previous crop. Farmers usually keep small quantities, about 25,000 tons of seed cotton, for their use in villages and around production areas.
Consumption And Trade
Domestic consumption of cotton from the 2006/2007 season is forecast at 165,000 tons of cotton lint, of which approximately 150,000 metric tons are consumed by spinning facilities that are monopolized by the public sector. The private sector utilizes approximately 10,000 tons of lint for the production of mattresses, pillows, diapers, and other sanitary products.
Syria does not import any cotton. The CMO exports any cotton in excess of domestic needs. Cotton lint exports once rank third in the country after petroleum and sheep. Cotton lint exports from the 2006/2007 crop are forecast to be close to one third of the usual export volume due to the small cotton crop in 2006/07. Egypt will probably continue to be the most important market for Syrian cotton lint due to the barter trade agreements between the countries. Turkey, Europe, and China will be the other major markets for Syrian cotton lint.
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