Gro Forecasts Improved Conditions for Big Texas Cotton Crop

Texas cotton crop conditions, as reported by the USDA, are among the lowest in the past 20 years. But Gro’s Growing Conditions app points to improvements for the important crop, and that could stem recent gains in cotton futures prices. 

Gro’s Growing Conditions app, trained specifically on Texas cotton-growing areas, shows that vegetative health, soil moisture, and evapotranspiration are all well above average for the crop. And Gro’s Drought Index, also weighted to highlight the state’s cotton areas, is showing a remarkable improvement from worrisome early-season levels. 

Taken together, the Gro indices are signalling that cotton supply in Texas doesn’t appear threatened, and that cotton futures may be overpriced. 

Texas has far-reaching effects on the global cotton industry. The state produces one-third of cotton in the US, which is the world’s largest cotton exporter. 

According to the USDA, only 28% of the cotton crop in Texas is rated “good-to-excellent.” That suggests similar crop quality to last year, when production declined 27% to 4.6 million bales on low yields and a decline in harvested area. December 2021 cotton futures are up 15% so far this year, driven higher in part by an increase in demand as some economies open up post-COVID. 

Gro’s Growing Conditions app, part of the Gro Explorer app, shows Texas cotton conditions much improved from last year. Weather is typically the driving force behind summer markets, and the Growing Conditions app, which gives a quick and up-to-date overview of growing conditions anywhere in the world, can help you stay on top of the ever changing markets. 

This insight was powered by the Gro platform, which enables better and faster decisions about factors affecting the entire global agricultural ecosystem. Gro organizes over 40,000 datasets from sources around the world into a unified ontology, which allows users to derive valuable insights such as this one. You can explore the data available on Gro with a free account, or please get in touch if you would like to learn more about a specific crop, region, or business issue.