Cotton Australia expects a bumper crop for new season
Industry body Cotton Australia has confirmed that the 2021-2022 cotton season is under way there and promises to provide “a bumper crop”.
Planting began in August in Queensland, with growers there explaining that climate, seasonal conditions and plant science allow them to plant before their counterparts further south, who will plant their cotton in October and November.
Cotton Australia chief executive, Adam Kay, said in recent comments that growers in Australia have suffered one of the harshest droughts in recent memory, but added that this season’s conditions across most of the country are favourable.
“This season we expect around 450,000 hectares to be planted although that could increase if there’s further rain,” he said, explaining that this should yield more than 1 million tonnes of cotton fibre that will be made into enough garments to clothe 1 billion people.
Mr Kay said global markets were good and that around 30% of Australia’s production for 2021-2022 has already been sold to merchants.
Newly elected chairman of Cotton Australia, Nigel Burnett, who is a cotton grower in Emerald, Queensland, is one of the farmers to have already begun planting cotton for the new season.
He said: “For the season ahead, we are forecasting a national cotton crop of 4.5 million bales, which is a significant improvement on the 600,000 bales grown in 2020 or the 2.8 million bales last season. Cotton has a bright future in this country. With the growth in cotton production areas in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, we believe the industry will have an even greater impact on the economy, creating more jobs and flow-on benefits for communities in each region.”
