Brazil seen becoming major player in cotton

Brazil, already a major producer of sugar and coffee, can become a major producer of cotton in the coming years, a report said Friday.
In a report presented by Ligia Vado from Texas Tech University at the annual Beltwide Cotton Conference, she said Brazil has turned into a net exporter of cotton after importing several hundred tonnes of the fiber in the mid-1990s.
According to the US Department of Agriculture's supply/demand report, Brazil is expected to produce 5.0 million (480-lb) bales of cotton in the 2003/04 marketing year (August/July).
Brazilian cotton exports are seen reaching 1.65 million bales in 2003/04.
Vado said Brazilian cotton expansion will depend on government incentive programs, the development of crop land and infrastructure support.
The new cotton producing areas of Mato Gross and Goais now accounts for 70 percent of total Brazilian cotton production. Vado said Brazil's cost of production stands at around 35 US cents a lb, against US production costs of about 68 cents.
The potential posed by Brazil comes after the Latin American agricultural power filed a complaint at the World Trade Organisation.