April 19, 2012

West Africa's 2012-13 cotton output expects 29% up

For the 2012-13 season, West African cotton growers forecast a 29% growth in output to 1,738,500 tonnes from 1,346,941 tonnes in 2011/12, data collected from cotton producers and compiled by Reuters showed on Wednesday (Apr 18).

The figures were presented by delegations of private and state-owned companies from six West African cotton-producing nations during a meeting in Ivory Coast of the Regional Programme for the Integrated Protection of Cotton in Africa, an association that works to improve growing practices.

The region once represented about 15% of the world's cotton exports, analysts say, but was hit hard by a market crash in the early 2000s, which West African states blamed on subsidies in competing growers such as the US.

The crash prompted many farmers, who saw little potential for profit, to switch to other crops. The sector is now experiencing a renaissance, however, as higher world prices draw farmers back into the fields.

"The price for farmers was the catalyst. Many farmers will be growing cotton because the price is lucrative. So I think that cotton production will increase a lot," said Dehou Dakouo, director of production for Burkina Faso's Sofitex, adding that farm gate prices are expected to remain stable for the 2012-13 season.

"For the past two seasons, the situation for cotton has improved in West Africa as far as production is concerned," said Aba Achi, a member of the association that organised the meeting.

"If these prices are maintained, the zone could break two million (tonnes) in the next few years," he said.

Benchmark May cotton contract on the ICE Futures US exchange was trading at US$0.91 per pound, up 1.76% by 1027 GMT on Wednesday. Despite the renewed participation of farmers in the sector, regional production remains hobbled in the long term by a lack of agricultural technology, researchers at the meeting said.

"The pluviometric deficit, the expense of fertilisers and the neglect of modern growing practices by some farmers has meant that yields are still low," said Ousmane Cisse, a technical adviser at Mali's CMDT.