AUSTRALIAN cotton prices are holding steady as dryland growers hope for rain to replenish desperately low soil moisture.
Cotton Compass director Pete Johnson said prices were currently at a low, compared to the first week of January when they reached towards $550 a bale.
With cotton selling for about $510/bale now, Mr Johnson said that was still historically good for this time of year, especially because so many growers had already contracted crop.
“Between 50 to 60 per cent of the cotton crop has been sold for prices ranging between $500 to $550 a bale,” he said.
Mr Johnson said the high Australian dollar caused a drop in cotton prices, but there was hope it would spike again towards the end of the season.
The ginning season in India has so far been slow, which Mr Johnson said was raising question over potential production in India, which could be a win for Australian farmers.
International demand for Australian cotton was still looking promising although Mr Johnson said the challenge for growers would be to remain competitive against the likes of Brazil, West Africa and the US.
“This is our first year with a big crop without having China as a really aggressive buyer for the last ten years, because of their policy changes,” he said.
“We are having to be more competitive against other countries to win back market share from our traditional markets as well as developing markets.”
Mr Johnson said Australia still had a great reputation for producing quality cotton and deserved a premium for the fact we were reliable suppliers.
“Countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh aren’t used to buying from us, so we need to continue the process of proving our worth to these markets,” he said.
Cotton Seed Distributors extension and development agronomist Rob Eveleigh, Wee Waa, said irrigated crops in the Namoi were going well with the heat as farmers have been able to keep water up to them but dryland crops were struggling.
So far, Mr Eveleigh said irrigated crops were tracking to produce average yields but without more rain, dryland crops were expected to be below average.
Similarly, McGregor Gourlay agronomist Helen Rose, Goondiwindi, said dryland crops were a mixed bag in the Gwydir, with only some growers receiving good in crop rain since planting.
Crops that have received little to no in crop rain have started cutting out.
Mrs Rose said it was still early to speculate yields, but without more rain, some crops would be facing quality issues as well as below average yields - rainfall could improve quality prospects.
