Uzbekistan's cotton fiber production falls by 6.4% in January - September
Interfax
November 3Uzbekistan's output of cotton fiber in January-September 2003 fell by 6.4% year-on-year to 573,850 tonnes, an official in the State Statistics Department told Interfax on Friday.
The fall in 2002 on 2001 was 0.7%, to 1,008,000 tonnes.
The area under cotton totaled 1.39 million hectares in 2003. The harvest is expected to total 3.6 million tonnes of raw cotton.
Uzbekistan is the world's fifth largest producer of raw cotton and the world's second largest cotton fiber producer. Its annual output is 3.5 million to 3.7 million tonnes of raw cotton, and one million to 1.2 million tonnes of cotton fiber. Over 75% of cotton fiber sis exported.