New Zealand importing cottonseed meal on Australia bumper crop

New Zealand has imported 10,000 metric tons of cottonseed meal from Australia over the last year due to Australia's bumper crop of cotton, according to reports.
Australia cotton producers are forecasting a record harvest of 4.8 million bales from 583,000 hectares planted for the 2011–2012 season. "It's quite a popular product," said Oilseed Products New Zealand Sales Manager Peter Cooke. "It's well priced and soya bean meal is very expensive at the moment because of the North American drought situation."
While cottonseed meal isn't quite as high in protein as soya bean meal, it's still a good product for dairy cows. It is typically blended with another feed, such as palm kernel expeller or a cereal. "It complements grains and other lower protein sources," said Cooke.

US cottonseed crop expected to exceed forecast

The United States Department of Agriculture predicts that the U.S. cottonseed crop will exceed the original July forecast and double the available supply to dairy producers compared to the 2009-2010 harvest season.
July's forecast predicted 18.3 million bales of cottonseed, but the revised estimate increases that number to 18.5 million bales, a 52% increase over last season's harvest. "What this means for dairy producers is an anticipated 100% increase in the amount of whole cottonseed available for feeding," said Tom Wedegaertner, director of cottonseed research and marketing at Cotton Incorporated. "If favorable weather continues, we will net 6.3 million tons of cottonseed this year, up from last year's 4.1 million tons. After the crush, which will use 2.5 million tons, 3.8 million tons will be available for dairy cows, compared to just 1.9 million tons last year."
The reality of the harvest, however, will continue to depend on the weather. While prices are expected to be low by harvest time due to the large availability, "the new crop may already have seen its low," said Wedegaertner. "Right now, it's all about the weather."

USDA: 1 million more tons of cottonseed in 2010

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has forecast 1.3 million additional acres of upland cotton and 1 million more tons of cottonseed produced in 2010, which is good news for dairy producers, says a Cotton Incorporated spokesperson. The acreage increase is 15% over last year’s and would bring total acreage to 10.3 million.
“Based on the latest cotton planting intention reports, 2010 may spell relief for dairy producers who want to get their cows back on cottonseed,” said Tom Wedegaertner, director of cottonseed research and marketing at Cotton Incorporated, which is the research and marketing company representing upland cotton. The cotton supply has been tight over the past year. “We're looking at a 50% increase in the amount of cottonseed available to dairy cows this year, if abandonment levels remain at average levels.”
He noted that there is still a chance that poor weather could interfere with production, as it did last year. “These cottonseed projections assume an average abandonment rate of 11.5%, compared to 2009's unusually high 20%,” he said. “We're also expecting more seed to be produced on each acre. These factors could contribute to as much as a million tons of additional cottonseed in 2010.”
More than half of the nation’s cotton crop is produced in Texas. “Crop conditions in Texas will be the most important factor determining the overall outcome of this projection,” Wedegaertner said.
As of April 2, new crop cottonseed prices were about $50 per ton lower than current old crop prices.