Global cotton production in 2009-10 is expected to fall by 5% over last year, but cotton output in Pakistan may rise by 8% to 2.1 million tonnes.

According to the International Cotton Advisory Committee, global cotton stocks are expected to fall by 13% to 10.7 million tonnes by the end of 2009-10. This will be the largest decline in stocks since 2002-03 which reflects a combination of lower production and rebounding consumption.

World cotton production is projected at 22.2 million tons in 2009-10, which is 5% lower than in 2008-09 due to lower yields. This is the third consecutive season of decline in global cotton production, which is the result of a drop in price competitiveness of cotton compared with competing crops, and also, in the last two seasons, of a weakening of cotton yields.