Why do we grow cotton?
While wool continues to be a key export for Australia, cotton remains in high demand.
Cotton is seen as a natural fibre that is versatile, comfortable, desirable and extremely useful. Cotton can be as fine as a handkerchief or thick like denim, it can be dyed to be any colour you like, easily washed and dried and added to other fibres for functional clothes and other uses.
The Australian cotton industry produced 1.65 million bales of cotton in the 2002/03 season. This was less than a ‘normal’ cotton season (a reduction of over half) due to the drought.
That year the world cotton industry produced about 84 million bales. Of this, China produced 21.5 million bales and the USA produced 19.5 million bales. Other major producers include India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
Australia exports over 96% of its cotton crop. In a normal year, the value of these exports is in excess of $1.5 billion. The main buyers of Australian cotton are Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.
Maintaining our market share means continually looking for improved farming practices. Managing insect pests is a major issue.