Climate affects the cotton harvest in the United States

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the cotton harvest for the 2023/24 harvest in the United States reached 49.00% of the estimated acreage for the cycle as of October 29.

Also See: Cotton Seed Prices Fall

According to the Mato Grosso Institute of Agricultural Economics (Imea), crop conditions present a challenging situation, with only 29.00% of areas considered to be in good and excellent condition. This represents a drop of 1.00 percentage points compared to the same period in 2022. Especially in Texas, the major cotton producing state of the US, only 10.00% of the fields are in good condition.

This situation is largely a result of the adverse climate, characterized by dry and hot weather that afflicts the country. This climate mainly compromises soil moisture and affects the healthy growth of cotton plantations.

In this scenario, projections indicate that of the 4.14 million hectares sown in the 2023/24 harvest, only 3.25 million will be harvested, representing a worrying area abandonment rate of 21.62%. This trend puts US cotton production at risk of being the lowest since the 2009/10 cycle.

As a result, the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that this will be the first harvest year in which Brazilian cotton production exceeds that of the United States.