News

USDA raises rice crop estimate, leaves cotton steady

The USDA is projecting a bigger rice crop, while leaving their guess for cotton unchanged.

The 2023 rice crop is now estimated at 201 million hundredweight, an increase of 8.3 million from June and 40.6 million from 2022. That rise followed an increase in acreage and yield estimates. Planted area is now pegged at 2.69 million acres with harvested area of 2.65 million, while the average yield is pegged at 7,599 pounds per acre. Old crop rice ending stocks were down on a higher export guess, which also pulled new crop stocks lower, along with increased demand expectations.

Cotton production was steady on the month at 16.5 million bales, which would be above a year ago. The USDA did lower the planted area guess, now at 11.09 million acres, but raised harvested area to 9.53 million, while cutting the average yield to 831 pounds per acre. Old crop cotton stocks were up modestly with lower exports canceling out higher domestic use, while new crop stocks were up on a lower export projection against those higher old crop stocks.

The USDA’s next set of supply, demand, and production estimates is out August 11^th.