Browse Data and Analysis

Burkina Faso, once the leader in West Africa cotton production, now ranks third (after Mali and Benin) due to its ongoing security challenges, though production is forecast to start recovering in MY2025/26.

MY2024/25 cotton area harvested for Senegal, Mali, and Burkina Faso is estimated to decrease 17 percent to 981,000 HA. This is mainly due to decreased planted area resulting from a late rainy season in all three countries, as well as civil conflict in Burkina Faso.

After hitting low levels in MY 2023/24, Spain’s cotton production is set to rebound in MY 2024/25. Exports remain the main outlet for Spain’s cotton lint production. The projected recovery in production should allow exports to bounce back to average levels.

MY2024/25 cotton area harvested for Mali, Senegal, and Burkina Faso is forecast at a combined 1.2 million HA, a one percent increase from the previous MY. A late start of the rainy season delayed planting in all three countries, and insecurity in Burkina Faso continues to prevent planting in many areas.

Early spring precipitations in Andalucía came as a relief, refilling water reservoirs. However, this allowed for only a marginal recovery in area planted to cotton, as rains arrived when planting plans were already in place and largely oriented to less water-demanding crops such as winter grains or early spring-planted sunflower.

The regional harvested area for Marketing Year (MY) 2024/25 is forecast to rise 17 percent at 1.38 million hectares (MHA) compared to the previous year based on expectations of good farm gate prices and improved security and stability in many cotton-growing areas.

Marketing year (MY) 2023/24 area harvested for Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal is expected to remain the same as the previous year at 1.23 million hectares (MHA), as increases in Mali and Senegal were offset by losses in Burkina Faso due to...

Irrigation water limitations in the Guadalquivir basin have nearly halved cotton production in Andalusia, Spain’s main producing region.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal area harvested for marketing year (MY) 2023/24 is forecast to remain the same as the previous year at 1.23 million hectares (MHA) based on good farm gate prices, governments’ input subsidies, and farmers’ debt cancellation by the Malian and Senegalese governments.

The harvested area for Marketing Year (MY) 2023/24 is forecasted to rise five percent at 1.39 million hectares (MHA) compared to the previous year based on good farm gate prices, increase access to inputs, and improved national security particularly in Burkina Faso.

The drought in Andalucía is anticipated to prevent further expansion of Spain’s cotton area in MY 2023/24. Irrigation water allocation will be critical for farmer’s planting decisions, and temperatures and pest incidence during the summer months will also determine final yields.

Marketing Year (MY) 2022/23 (August to July) is characterized by high pest infestation of cotton leafhoppers, known commonly as jassids, in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. Post forecasts the harvested area in all three countries to fall back to the previous year level, 1.33 million hectares (MHA) due to abandoned area caused by this infestation and excess rainfall.