cotton price surges to 15 year high, page-2

Cotton giant expects bumper crop

By Tom Forbes and Paul Robinson

Updated 1 hour 34 minutes ago


The operators of Australia's largest cotton farm, Cubbie Station in south-west Queensland, say they will plant a record crop this season.

The 100,000 hectare station near Dirranbandi, west of Goondiwindi, went into voluntary administration last year and is up for sale.

Cubbie chairman Keith De Lacey says 22,000 hectares of land will be planted in the next few weeks.

"The biggest area that we've ever planted was 18,000 hectares but ... that could have been eight or 10 years ago," he said.

"We've had seven or eight years of drought impacted crops.

"Now we've got the area and the dams full of water and - dare I say it - a very strong cotton market so we're looking forward to it."


Cotton prices

Cotton is set to become a $2 billion industry due to rapid growth.

Chief Executive of Cotton Australia Adam Kay says prices are at a 15 year high of more than $560 a bale.

He says more than 400,000 hectares of cotton is expected to be planted across Australia this season.

"Our estimates are that it could potentially produce a crop up to 3.5 million bales," he said.

"The last time we saw a price at this level was in 1995.

"Quick sums would estimate that we are going to produce about $2 billion worth of export income.


http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/23/3019938.htm?section=justin