Floods may dampen Australian cotton output

04 Feb '12

2 min read

Australian cotton industry is now assessing the extent of damage caused to the cotton crop in northern New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland owing to extensive rains and related floods.

Floods have wrecked several houses and other properties around Moree in northern NSW and cotton crop in the region might also have been affected.

However, the industry said it would be too early to comment on the impact of rains and floods on the yields in Moree and surrounding regions.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, all cotton cultivating regions in the two States have received no less than 50 millimetres of rains over the past one week, while some areas have received around 150 millimetres of rains during the period, inundating large parts.

After such heavy rains, the Australian cotton industry is now praying for a long span of dry hot weather to allow the paddocks to dry before the crop is harvested.

However, as per the weather forecasts, the weather system that brought untimely massive rains to the two States would continue to bring some further rains to the region for few more days.

If weather adversities would not have occurred, Australian cotton industry would have been on its course to achieve the estimated output of 1.09 million tons this season, making it the highest output ever, and also considerably more than the output of 900,000 tons recorded during the year up to March 31, 2011.

Almost the entire cotton production of Australia is exported, making it a leading source of cotton for China and other Asian countries.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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