Friday, February 21, 1997

Cotton crop appears to be second-largest in history

By J.T. SMITH / Farm Editor

Although the cotton crop was pretty miserable in much of the Abilene region - and downright awful in the northern Rolling Plains - the crop wasn't bad at all nationwide.

If USDA's estimate of 18.95 million bales is on target, the crop for the 1996-97 season will go down as the second-largest cotton crop in U.S. history.

It appears the total supply of cotton will be about 22 million bales.

Domestic mill use of cotton continues steady at 11 million bales.

Add to that projected U.S. exports of 6.5 million bales, and the total offtake will be in the neighborhood of 17.5 million bales for the current season.

That would leave a carryover supply of about 4.45 million bales next Aug. 1.

Such a carryover would compare with 2.61 million bales of beginning stocks when the current season began last August.

So despite the short crop over much of the Rolling Plains region, a lot of other folks had a good to excellent crop. There appears to be ample cotton, and that is putting some pressure on cotton prices.

The recent National Cotton Council survey predicted a million fewer acres of cotton nationwide.

How much cotton actually gets planted - and what kind of spring weather we have in Texas - may have a big impact on the final U.S. acreage number.

Texas already is pegged for a reduction of 500,000 acres - or roughly half the projected national reduction.

We'll see how it shakes out.

Cotton hot item in Tokyo

Speaking of cotton. The Supima collection of 20 women's ready-to-wear outfits made from 100 percent U.S. Pima cotton stole the show again at the recent 44th Tokyo Fashion Week of fashion shows.

Designed and manufactured by seven of Japan's top women's wear makers, the collection was made up solely of new U.S. Pima cotton fabrics.

Fabrics were supplied by Nisshinbo, Toyobo, Fujibo, Kurabo, and Daiwabo under coordination of the Japan Cotton Promotion Institute and the Tokyo Women's and Children's Wear Manufacturer's Association.

Learn more about U.S. cotton

Cotton Council International launched its first consumer-oriented COTTON USA advertising campaign in Latin America with a 15-second television commercial and a print ad promoting products made with U.S. cotton.

The purpose of the ads, which began appearing in Colombia in January, is to build COTTON USA Mark awareness, increase U.S. cotton's reputation of superiority, and establish the COTTON USA mark as a trusted guarantee of quality.

Milk production down

Texas milk production totaled 542 million pounds during January, down 2 percent from a year earlier.

The number of Texas milk cows during January averaged 390,000 head, down 10,000 head from last year, but the same as a month earlier.

Production per cow averaged 1,390 pounds during January, compared with 1,380 pounds a year earlier and 1,325 pounds during December 1996.

Rains help the wheat

The February rainfall has really been a boost to the Rolling Plains wheat crop, reports Emory Boring III, Texas A&M entomologist, with headquarters at Vernon.

Boring says that since this is the time of year that strong and warmer winds can be expected to dry the soil (i.e., March), the rains are critical.

The veteran entomologist reports some greenbugs. But the greenbugs are not as prevalent in wheat that has been grazed by cattle.

"Heavier grazing destroys most of the aphids, while lighter grazing will allow more aphids to survive" Boring notes.

USDA budget proposed

The Clinton Administration proposed at $58.7 billion budget for the U.S. Agriculture Department for 1998.

It would include plans to expand the revenue insurance program nationwide. The USDA budget also would provide maximum funding of $500 million for the export enhancement program.