Brazil has become the world’s leading producer and exporter of cotton, the preeminence of United States. Brazil’s s cotton planted area reached a record 1.97 million hectares, driven by favorable prices and reduced production costs.
As with other crops, Brazil is close to unseating the US to become the world’s biggest cotton exporter as Texas, America’s top-producing region, buckles under searing heat and drought.
Brazil provides 20% of the world’s cotton supply, making it the second largest cotton exporter in the world. Cotton represents Brazil’s seventh-largest export product in terms of value: in the market year 2021/2022 alone, 1.68 thousand tons were exported, generating more than USD 3.2 billion in cash. The stats were supplied by the industry association Abrapa.
Brazil could become the world’s largest cotton exporter in 2023, because of an increase in the planted area helping it to surpass the United States, which could reduce sowing by 30% to make way for competing crops such as corn, soy, and wheat.
A United States federal judge said Walmart Inc, Target Corp, and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc must face a lawsuit claiming they sold linens that were falsely labeled 100per cent Egyptian Cotton or 100per cent Long-Staple Egyptian cotton despite being suspicious of their origin.
A 20 million dollars agreement signed Wednesday by the United Nations and Brazil will seek to transfer the expertise of the South American country to support cotton farmers in developing economies.
India will keep a controversial ban on its cotton exports for now after ministers failed to agree its fate at the weekend, even after top buyer China had criticised the move, which boosted global prices.
Farmers in Brazil have teamed up to drill an area the size of New York for phosphate-based fertilizers, seeking to cut dependency on producers including Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) and Mosaic Co. (NYSE:MOS) after prices surged.