摘要
Due to yields below the world average, India was only recently able to surpass China in production despite consistently being home to the world＇s largest cotton area. India was able to increase yields significantly in the 2000s with the adoption of seed technologies. Even though the time period lbllowing the improvement in yield included years when cotton prices were less com- petitive, there has not been a single significant year-over- year decline in Indian acreage since then. Instead, Indian acreage has been either unchanged or shifted higher. The trend has been definitively upward. India＇s acreage in 2014/15 was more than 50% larger than the average in the early 2000s. In the current environment of lower prices, an important question for the global supply situation next crop year is whether India will decrease its acreage for 2015/16.
Recent price movement Global cotton prices were mostly stable over the past month,with NY futures,the A Index,and the CC Index virtually unchanged.Indian prices moved slightly lower;Pakistani prices moved slightly higher.Prices for the March New York futures contract were largely unchanged.Despite testing levels above 61 cents/lb during holiday trading,values returned to the range between 58 and 61 cents/lb
