China's extended drought negative for cotton seedlings

A drought in China's main cotton-growing region in the north is likely to continue, damaging cotton seedlings there, the China Cotton Association said on Thursday. "Most northern areas will see little precipitation and high temperatures in the coming 30 days, extending the drought and having a negative impact on crop seedlings including cotton," the association said in a statement published on its website.
The region had seen no precipitation since earlier this month, when cotton farmers started planting, it said. Fang Yan, a deputy chief of the rural department under the National Development and Reform Commission, said earlier this week that cotton acreage in major growing provinces had declined over the past two years despite big price gains last November, as grain had become more attractive because of government subsidies. Cotton growing outlook in Xinjiang Autonomous Region "is not optimistic at all", he said.