cotton
House panel approves bill for new types of cotton futures
The House Agriculture Committee approved a bill intended to make it easier to develop new cotton futures contracts. The law now requires all cotton tendered under a futures contract listed in the United States to be sampled and graded by the USDA.
Enigmatic China key to drawing down global cotton glut
China, the world's largest buyer and consumer of cotton, also owns a huge stockpile of the fiber and is the central figure in determining if market prices will remain stable in the coming year, although at low levels, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
China to sell part of its massive cotton stockpile
China, the world's largest importer and consumer of cotton, "will start to sell down its massive cotton stockpile this year," says Reuters. Beijing holds half, or more, of the world's stockpile of cotton.
World cotton crop down 9 percent due to low prices
The cotton harvest worldwide will drop by 9 percent this year as growers plant less land because of low market prices for the fiber, says the International Cotton Advisory Council.
U.S. imports more textiles, less of them made of cotton
The U.S. cotton industry promotes the crop as "the fabric of our lives," yet synthetics account for a growing share of imported textiles and apparel.
NFU wants to jettison STAX, keep cotton in farm program
The nation's second-largest farm group, the National Farmers Union, adopted a policy statement that opposes the STAX program for cotton. STAX, a combination of a floor price and revenue insurance, was created in the 2014 farm law to resolve a World Trade Organization ruling against U.S. cotton subsidies. "While this program is subsidized at 80 percent, this is a shallow-loss program that, according to many economists, is unaffordable," says NFU.
U.S. cotton stocks to soar as world trade slows
The global cotton surplus will climb by 11 percent this marketing year to nearly 22 million tonnes, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee. China, the world's largest importer, is limiting imports while trying to use up some of its large reserves
U.S. organic cotton plantings, while small, are on the rise
Organic cotton is a tiny part of the U.S. production, a bit more than 10,000 bales out of the total of 16 million bales. But organic growers said in a survey that they intend to expand plantings this year, to nearly 19,000 acres.
New faces for Cotton Council president and Washington office
The National Cotton Council board elected Gary Adams as the organization's president and chief executive, and Reece Langley as its vice present for Washington operations.
World cotton crop may be smallest in six years
Low market prices will reduce cotton planting by 6 percent worldwide and result in the smallest harvest in six years, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
U.S. cotton output to plunge under weight of low prices
U.S. growers will curtail cotton plantings due to the lowest prospective prices in six years with the harvest to contract by 13 percent from its 2014 total, according to a survey of growers by the National Cotton Council. The survey, completed in mid-January, pointed to a crop of 14 million bales vs 16.08 million bales last year. That would make it the third-smallest in a decade. Plantings would total 9.4 million acres, down 15 percent.
USDA approves GE cotton and soy that tolerate dicamba
The government approved cultivation of genetically engineered cotton and soybean varieties from Monsanto that tolerate the weedkillers dicamba and glufosinate. So-called super weeds that are resistant to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide known as Roundup, have prompted work on biotech plants that can be matched with other herbicides.USDA said a Federal Register notice of its decision was scheduled to appear on Tuesday, the effective date for deregulation of the new Monsanto strains.
Large cotton surplus, low prices are a multi-year problem
The world cotton surplus will top 21 million tonnes at the end of this marketing year, an 87 percent stocks-to-use ratio, says the International Cotton Advisory Council.
Fall in cotton price discourages planting below the equator
Cotton plantings in the Southern Hemisphere are forecast for 3 million hectares in 2014/15, down 12 percent from last season and the smallest total in five years, due to low market prices, said the International Cotton Advisory Council.
Cotton growers face choice of STAX vs SCO
While grain and soybean farmers have to decide which of two crop subsidy programs, cotton growers have a choice all their own - the Supplemental Coverage Option or the Stacked Income Protection Plan known as STAX, says Delta Farm Press.
As market prices fall, Asian countries provide cotton supports
China, India and Pakistan are providing supports to cotton growers in the face of low market prices, said the International Cotton Advisory Council.
Drought-damaged Plains lead US in crop insurance payments
Three states in the Great Plains - Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma - account for nearly half of crop insurance indemnities paid so far this year, say USDA data.
World cotton prices are lowest in five years
With China scaling back on its imports of cotton, world prices "dipped below 70 cents in early October, a level not seen in five years," said USDA, forecasting a 6 percent cent increase in global cotton stocks this marketing year.
Hurricane slashes Georgia cotton crop by 20 percent
High winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Helene destroyed one-fifth of the cotton crop in Georgia, the second-largest cotton state in the nation, said the USDA's monthly Crop Production report. The USDA estimated that growers would harvest 1.65 million bales of cotton weighing 480 pounds each, down by 400,000 bales from a pre-hurricane estimate.