Australia's 2010/11 cotton harvest is likely to be completed by the end of June even though recent rain has slowed harvesting, Westpac Banking Corp said in a crop outlook on Friday. Australia, the world's third largest cotton exporter is expected to ship record quantities of the fibre in the coming year.
Westpac, the country's third largest bank said crop quality was generally good across irrigated and dry-land areas in the cotton growing states of Queensland and New South Wales. "While irrigated cotton has yielded well, dry land crop (yields) have been highly variable depending on location and rain fall received," said Westpac in a quarterly crop update.
On Tuesday, the government's chief commodities forecaster estimated Australia's cotton production could rise to a record 1.106 million tonnes in 2011/12, up from 898,000 tonnes in 2010-11, also a record. Cotton growers have responded to historically high prices and increased water availability, planting more area with the crop.
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