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The drought thathit Argentina's 1996-97 cotton crop earlier this year, hasstripped the country of anoutput of as much as 100,000tonnes (t) of lint, said a leading Argentine cottonexporter. With the harvesting about 40 per cent complete, the extent of the damage to the cotton crop thisyear has been estimated. Thefinal lint output is likely tototal about 300,000 t,according to Rafael Almirotyof Almiroty Compania.
Experts say that due tolate sowing, the plants werestill very small when thedrought struck and hencethey became more vulnerable to heat stress. Almirotywarned that more damagecould be in store for the cotton aitop in the event of anearly frost.
This disappointUg output means that Argentinawill export only about200,000 t of cotton lint, withthe rest feeding its anaemictextile industry. Most of thelint has been already sold offto Brazil in advance, said Almiroty.
Argentine farmers havebeen investing heavily incotton farming in recentyears, and now the vastmajority of crops is harvested by machine instead ofbeing picked by hand.