USDA Expects Bigger Cotton Area

WASHINGTON - Mar 31/03 - SNS -- All Cotton plantings for 2003 are expected to total 14.3 million acres, 2% above last year, according to the USDA's seeding intentions estimates for 2003.

Upland acreage is expected to total 14.1 million acres, a 2% increase from 2002. Producers in the Southeast region and Arizona intend to decrease acreage from last year. All other cotton producing States intend to increase planted acreage, except for Oklahoma growers who intend to plant the same acreage as last year.

Upland growers in the Delta States (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Tennessee) intend to plant 3.82 million acres, a 6% increase from the previous year. Producers in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and New Mexico intend to plant 6.17 million acres, up 4%. Farmers in the Southeastern States (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia) intend to plant 3.33 million acres of upland cotton, a 5% decrease from 2002.

American-Pima acreage intentions are reported at 200,000 acres, a decrease of 18% from last year. The decrease occurred in all Pima estimating States, with California producers intending to plant 40,000 acres less than last year.

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