Australia: Cotton and Products Annual

Cotton production in Australia is set for a fourth successive year of high production in marketing year (MY) 2024/25, forecast at 5.5 million bales, which would be the third largest crop. The prospect of average rainfalls over the winter/spring period if realized would establish improved irrigation water availability for growers. This, compared to dry conditions in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales in the lead-up to planting the MY 2023/24 crop, which adversely affected the planted area. Despite this challenge in Australia’s biggest cotton producing region, the MY 2023/24 estimate is for a 5.0 million bale crop on the back of larger cotton crop planting in the more southern areas. Exports are forecast to reach 5.8 million bales in MY 2024/25, a drop of 200,000 bales from the MY 2023/24 estimate despite a higher crop forecast. This is due to the first nine months of trade in the forecast year being from the MY 2023/24 crop, the fourth highest following the MY 2022/23 record of 6.2 million bales.