AUSTRALIAN cotton production is expected to surge next financial year after drought-breaking rains in Queensland and northern NSW boosted water supplies in key farming regions.
Australian farmers will also benefit from rising cotton prices, which are expected to increase in 2010-11 following the recovery of global economies, according to The Australian Financial Review.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia soft commodities strategist Luke Mathews said cotton farmers would capture and store water from the recent rains to use for summer crops, which are planted from September.
Mr Mathews has forecast cotton plantings to jump to about 250,000 hectares, up from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics 202,000 ha forecast for this year.
It is almost four times the 63,000 ha planted in 2007-08 and up almost 100,000 ha on the 164,000 ha planted in 2008-09.
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