In 2021, domestic cotton mining will be later, with the mainland 5-7 days later than last year, and intensive picking in Xinjiang 5-10 days later than last year. In addition, northern Xinjiang experienced continuous rainfall during the National Day, and the subsequent harvest time coincided with the southern Xinjiang cotton area, resulting in a serious shortage of cotton pickers in the early harvest period in southern Xinjiang. However, through the efforts of some corps farms and the coordination of some enterprises, the harvest in southern Xinjiang began rapidly. By mid-November, the harvest completion rate in southern Xinjiang had reached 90%. It is expected that this year’s harvesting work will be basically completed by the end of November.
Compared with the cotton harvesting process in previous years, this year’s cotton harvesting cycle has not been significantly extended. In 2018 and 2019, Xinjiang cotton began to be picked in late September and was not completed until mid-to-late December. However, although the mining time this year has been significantly delayed, the final harvest process has not been delayed too much. One of the important reasons is that the proportion of hand-picked cotton cultivation in southern Xinjiang has been declining year by year, while the proportion of machine-picked cotton has been increasing year by year.
According to feedback from some cotton farmers, in the early stages of hand-picked cotton picking in previous years, cotton pickers must first be found. Especially during the concentrated harvest period, the shortage of cotton pickers will lead to a longer cotton picking cycle. In addition, hand-picked cotton needs to be carried out according to the progress of cotton spinning. Generally, more than 3-5 rounds of harvesting are required, and the harvesting time can range from more than one month to more than two months. This year, it only takes a few days for planters to pick cotton, so there are still some hand-picked cotton and a small amount of late-maturing machine-picked cotton left. I believe this rapid harvest will become more obvious in the next few years.
The delay in seed cotton mining this year has also caused a significant delay in the progress of lint cotton processing. According to relevant statistics, as of November 14, a total of 2.46 million tons of cotton had been processed in Xinjiang, a decrease of 11.06% compared with the same period last year. Xinjiang processed 69,900 tons on November 14, and the daily processing volume in the same period last year was 63,700 tons. It is expected that the daily processing volume of lint cotton in Xinjiang may continue to remain above 60,000 tons before the end of November. The harvest of seed cotton in the upstream market will gradually end, and lint processing will be its key task.
Xinjiang: The purchase price of seed cotton has dropped and the quality of the second harvest is not as good as the previous period
Special news from China Cotton Network: Xinjiang seed cotton prices have been rising and rising since the scale was opened for purchase, reaching a maximum of more than 11 yuan/kg. As reserve cotton continues to be released, Xinjiang processing companies gradually calm down, and the purchase price of seed cotton gradually drops to 9.5 yuan/kg. Up to now, the purchase of seed cotton in northern Xinjiang has basically ended. Some cotton farmers have carried out secondary harvesting of cotton fields due to the high price of seed cotton this year. It is understood that the price of second mining is 6 yuan/kg, and the quality is not as good as that of the previous period.
On November 15, the purchase price of seed cotton in southern Xinjiang decreased compared with last week (November 8-14). The purchase price of machine-picked cotton in Kashgar, Xinjiang is about 10-10.3 yuan/kg, in Aksu area is 9.3-9.6 yuan/kg, and in Bazhou area is about 9.1-9.5 yuan/kg. As it enters the later stage of acquisition, the seed cotton indicators have declined compared with the previous period. </p
