Nationwide cotton planting area and output both decline this year

This newspaper report, reporter Qiao Jinliang from the Ministry of Agriculture: This year's nationwide cotton planting area is expected to fall 8.7% from last year, and because some cotton regions suffered meteorological disasters such as drought and high temperatures earlier, full-year cotton output is expected to be lower than last year.

The decline in nationwide cotton area is mainly due to a relatively large drop in inland cotton area, with the Yangtze River basin cotton region down about 12.1% and the Yellow River basin down about 14.5%, and it shows the characteristics of “large declines in area in major cotton counties and large declines in area for large growers”. According to feedback from agricultural departments in inland cotton regions, Hebei's spring cotton planting area was 7.23 million mu, down 16.4% year on year; Jiangsu's cotton area may fall below 2 million mu for the first time, down about 20% from last year.

⟦NL> According to Pan Xiufen, senior agronomist at the cotton technology extension station of the Cangzhou City Agriculture Bureau, Cangzhou's cotton planting area was 1.6 million mu last year, and this year's actual cotton planting area is expected to be at most 1 million mu. Relevant officials from the agriculture departments of Jiangsu and 4 other provinces also believe that, because cotton's comparative returns are relatively low and the temporary storage policy has also been canceled, inland cotton area may continue to decline in the future. Experts suggest textile enterprises should arrange cotton raw material procurement and restocking in a timely manner according to production progress.