Posted July 21, 2014
China is
growing significantly less cotton than in the past, which creates opportunities
for the U.S., according to a Delta Farm Press article by Hembree Brandon
available here.
“Three
years ago, China produced 35 million bales; two years ago, 32 million bales;
last year, about 31 million bales,” says O. A. Cleveland, Jr., Extension
economics professor emeritus at Mississippi State University and a veteran
cotton analyst.
The
Chinese government stated that the country is moving to a free market economy
for cotton and soybeans, and that they are willing to let prices fall “as the market
dictates.”
“They’re
moving much more toward a food-producing agriculture rather than a
fiber-producing agriculture. They will continue to support cotton prices in
Xinjiang Province, the big upper northwest desert area that they’re clearing,
where they have huge water reservoirs.”
China has
identified the Xinjiang Province an area where they intend to produce cotton,
because it can be grown there more efficiently than eastern seaboard areas,
which will eventually drive cotton out of those areas.
For more information on international trade, please visit
the National Agricultural Law Center’s website here.
