Global Cotton Market Review

摘要

As we move into the New Year, attention begins to shift to the forthcoming 2014/15 season, with farmers in the Northern Hemisphere poised to make planting decisions about their summer crop cycle. Cotton crops in the Northern Hemisphere are typically sown around March and April. Of the major international forecasting agencies, only the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has thus far published projections for 2014/15. Its estimates point to a drop in the area devoted to cotton around the world for the season beginning on August 1, with the decline occurring primarily in China. Global production is predicted to fall by 3.5%, to 24,840,000 tonnes. Although a further increase in world consumption of 3.3% is foreseen, spurred by an expected further recovery in global economic growth, the estimated total of 24,540,000 tonnes would represent a fifth consecutive season of supply surplus and a further modest addition to record world stocks. By July 31, 2015, the ICAC foresees global stocks will have risen by 1.5%, to 20,070,000 tonnes.