U.S. Organic Cotton Output Down

GREENFIELD - Dec 29/04 - SNS -- Organic cotton production is under pressure in the United States despite good prices, with the Organic Trade Association (OTA) saying output in 2003 was less than half that of 2001..

According to an OTA survey funded by a grant from Cotton Incorporated and additional information supplied by the Texas Organic Cotton Marketing Cooperative, U.S. growers harvested at least 4,628 bales of organic cotton in 2003. Excluded from the 2003 figure, however, were data for 80 acres for which the number of bales harvested went unrecorded. A 2002 OTA study of organic production showed a total of 9,897 bales harvested in 2001.

Despite the drop in production, overall U.S. sales of organic fiber finished products, predominantly made from organic cotton, grew 23% in 2003, to reach $85 million, according to OTA's 2004 Manufacturer Survey released earlier in the year.

Meanwhile, U.S. acreage planted to organic cotton in 2003 was less than half that planted the previous year, according to survey findings.

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