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USDA’s planted cotton acres higher than expected

The USDA says upland cotton planted area is 9.9 million acres, less than last year, but more acres than some in the U.S. cotton industry thinks has been planted.

Jody Campiche with the National Cotton Council tells Brownfield…

“We did see from March to June, USDA increased Texas acreage, which isn’t too out of line. Where I’m hearing the biggest differences at are in the mid-south and the southeast.”

She says Georgia and North Carolina likely have fewer cotton acres than USDA forecasted and it’s the same with Delta states like Tennessee.

“I actually live in Fayette County, Tennessee and there isn’t as much cotton where there usually is and some of these USDA responses are surprising.”

She says many cotton farmers had already made the decision to plant less cotton, because of price. And in Delta states, excessive rains made planting cotton more challenging.

The cotton markets responded lower to USDA’s acreage report earlier this week. But Campiche says moving forward “we probably won’t see too much of an impact from the market, because I think most know acreage isn’t that high.”

She says lower cotton prices will likely continue, not necessarily due to supply, but weak demand that hasn’t recovered.