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West Africa: Cotton, the providential flower
By African Bulletin on August 25, 2010
The cotton has reached a record price, after wheat on the world markets. In a year and half, prices have more than doubled to $ 0.91 (€ 0.71) per pound on the market in New York, against $ 0.40 in March 2009.For five years, the producing countries could not keep the pace with the rising global demand for the most used fiber worldwide. Cotton occupies 2.5% of global arable land, making it one of the most important crops in terms of land use after cereals and soybeans.
The developing countries are the largest consumers. However, stocks are at their lowest level in thirteen years. China, the largest importer, has to dip into its reserves to meet the growing needs of its mills running at full speed. The challenge here is to succeed in supplying textile exports, but also supplying its booming domestic market.
Floods in Pakistan, the fourth largest producer, have destroyed more than two million bales of cotton (a bale = 225 kg). And the coming harvest could be reduced by 10%, or 30 million tones. The trend for prices is therefore rising, and might go higher if new weather conditions break down, particularly in the southern United States, a major producing region regularly hit by cyclones.
In West Africa, the sixth largest exporter, cotton farmers are “rubbing their hands”. Affected since the early 2000s by competition from the United States, which largely subsidises its production, and served by a weak dollar, the countries of the CFA franc zone had reached the lowest level of their production during the last campaign, with 500 000 tons of fibber.
“Cotton growers, traumatised by previous crises, have gained confidence. “Although low rainfall at the beginning of the campaign has resulted in lower yields, production should increase, reaching nearly 600 000 tonnes in 2010-2011. This production is essential for major producers such as Mali, Chad, Benin and Burkina Faso. In the latter, more than three million people are living, directly or indirectly, from the white gold. The white fibber contributes of about 60% of export incomes and for more than 25% in the gross domestic product.
Unfortunately, the “African countries do not have the same reactivity as the U.S. and the Brazilian producers who have benefited first from this increase. The United States, with its 25 000 cotton farmers, is the leading exporter, followed by India and Uzbekistan. The United States Department of Agriculture announced, on August 13, to harvest about some 116.8 million bales for the 2010-2011 season.
Floods in Pakistan, the fourth largest producer, have destroyed more than two million bales of cotton (a bale = 225 kg). And the coming harvest could be reduced by 10%, or 30 million tones. The trend for prices is therefore rising, and might go higher if new weather conditions break down, particularly in the southern United States, a major producing region regularly hit by cyclones.
In West Africa, the sixth largest exporter, cotton farmers are “rubbing their hands”. Affected since the early 2000s by competition from the United States, which largely subsidises its production, and served by a weak dollar, the countries of the CFA franc zone had reached the lowest level of their production during the last campaign, with 500 000 tons of fibber.
“Cotton growers, traumatised by previous crises, have gained confidence. “Although low rainfall at the beginning of the campaign has resulted in lower yields, production should increase, reaching nearly 600 000 tonnes in 2010-2011. This production is essential for major producers such as Mali, Chad, Benin and Burkina Faso. In the latter, more than three million people are living, directly or indirectly, from the white gold. The white fibber contributes of about 60% of export incomes and for more than 25% in the gross domestic product.
Unfortunately, the “African countries do not have the same reactivity as the U.S. and the Brazilian producers who have benefited first from this increase. The United States, with its 25 000 cotton farmers, is the leading exporter, followed by India and Uzbekistan. The United States Department of Agriculture announced, on August 13, to harvest about some 116.8 million bales for the 2010-2011 season.