The Australian cotton industry is still expecting a large cotton crop despite persistent rain which has delayed picking and planting.

Only two years after a severe drought, cotton farmers celebrated good water availability resulting in a record crop of 5.5 million bales last season. However the rain has persisted. Every inland river catchment is either full or flooded with 99 active warnings and nine major flood warnings in place. Farmers have suffered loss and damage due to the floods but at this stage the major damage appears to be to winter crops like wheat and barley.The northern half of NSW has a wider planting window and that means growers have till the later half of November to get their crops in and maintain a healthy yield for the coming season.

They can achieve that if the rain holds off long enough to get out on their fields and get their crops in the ground. But in the Macquarie Valley south to the Victorian border the planting window closes earlier and yields decrease the later crops are planted in the region.Overall at this stage a ten per cent reduction on crop forecasts for 2023 is expected , and with about a third of that crop forward sold, expectations are for a strong ongoing global demand for the cotton.