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.
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