Brazilian cotton index drops slightly in first fortnight

The price average during the fortnight, at 2.9355 BRL per pound, is 0.32 per cent higher than that from March 2019, but 14.04 per cent lower than that from April 2018, in real terms (values were deflated by the IGP-DI from March 2019), CEPEA said in its latest fortnightly report on the Brazilian cotton market.

Meanwhile, according to the seventh survey conducted by Conab (National Company for Food Supply) and released on April 11, the Brazilian cotton production in the 2018-19 season is estimated at 2.647 million tons, up 2.8 per cent compared to data from March 2019 and a staggering 32 per cent up compared to the harvesting from 2017-18. Although the average productivity may decrease by 2.2 per cent, to 1,670 kilos per hectare in the 2018-19 crop, Conab upwardly revised estimates by 1.8 per cent compared to that forecast in March 2019.

The increase of 35 per cent in the area sown in the 2018-19 season includes regions that usually produce cotton as well as new areas. Mato Grosso and Bahia regions together have more than 88 per cent of the area allocated to cotton in the 2018-19 season.

In Mato Grosso, the area sown with cotton is likely to increase by 37 per cent compared to 2017-18, to 1.066 million hectares, and the average productivity is forecast to reach 1,650 kilos per hectare (+0.5 per cent), which may lead the harvesting to total 1.759 million tons.

In Bahia, the cotton area is expected to total 332,000 hectares in the 2018-19 season (+25.9 per cent). Harvesting is predicted at 577,700 thousand tons, 15.9 per cent up compared to the previous season. The average productivity is forecast to decrease 7.9 per cent season-on-season to 1,740 kilos per hectare. (RKS)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India