Dow Jones Commodities Service
November 5
he following is the text of the Uzbekistan cotton production. The report was produced by a U.S. Department of Agriculture attache.
Data tables included in the report filed by the USDA do not accompany the following text, but can be found on the Web at http://www.fas.usda.gov/scriptsw/attacherep/.
Uzbekistan s MY01/02 lint production is forecast at 1.015 million metric tons and exports are forecast to increase slightly from MY 2000/01 to 760,000 metric tons.
According to official sources in the Ministry of Agriculture, Uzbekistan s MY 2001/02 seed cotton production target has been reduced to 3.79 MMT due to continuing drought, especially in Karakalpakstan and Khorezm in western Uzbekistan. Even so, it appears highly likely that actual MY 2001/02 production will fall well short of the revised target.
Following a hot summer, this year s cotton harvest began about two weeks earlier than normal and is expected to be completed by late October or early November, especially if the weather continues to deteriorate. As of October 24, Uzbek farmers had harvested a total of 3.22 MMT of seed cotton (or about 85 percent of the revised target). While this amount is about 14 per cent higher than at the same time last year, sources expected only small additional amounts to be harvested. Based on actual seed cotton harvested to date, MY 2001/02 lint production is forecast at 1.015 MMT.
Uzbekistan s MY 2001/02 lint exports are forecast to increase slightly from the MY 2000/01 level to 760,000 MT.