Cotton

After steep falls in late 2022 and early 2023, many Australian agricultural commodity prices have stabilised, according to the NAB March Rural Commodities Wrap released on 27 March 2023. While the NAB Rural Commodities Index* was down 1.2% in February, almost all of the downside was driven by falling cattle prices as the industry faces parallel challenges of higher turnoff, processor constraints and tough global conditions.

Australian agricultural commodity prices have continued to fall in the new year with the NAB Rural Commodities Index* now 14.4% below year-ago levels. Lower beef cattle prices and to a lesser extent, grain prices, are the key drivers of the weakening in the Index, according to the NAB February Rural Commodities Wrap.

The future of fashion is transparent. One of the global leaders in traceability technologies, FibreTrace ®, are set to release a free digital traceability solution to the textile industry, which maps the global textile supply chain from fibre to retail.

International markets for wool and cotton have seen much volatility through the course of 2022 – with the lingering impacts of Covid and escalated geopolitical and economic uncertainty affecting the trade – and the year ahead could be equally turbulent, agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank says in a new industry podcast.

Record-breaking cotton production in Australia in 2021-22 is being reflected in the business cash inflows of NAB’s cotton growing customers, the July NAB Economics Data Insights: Agriculture report shows. The report shows business cash inflows for the bank’s agriculture, forestry and fishing customers continue to grow at a rapid pace, underpinned by a monster winter crop, strong commodity prices, and more recently, a record-breaking cotton bonanza.

A 12 month trial on a cotton farm just outside the rural town of Goondiwindi Queensland in Australia has shown it’s possible to divert large amounts of cotton textile waste at end of life from landfill with no harm done to soil health or cotton yields. Project collaborators are confident that with a solid business plan and more research, returning shredded cotton products to cotton fields could soon offer benefits to soil health, and a scalable solution to the massive global problem of textile waste.

Australia's largest irrigated cotton property, Cubbie Station, is back in local hands after Chinese textile giant Shandong Ruyi sold its remaining stake to co-owner Macquarie Asset Management. Cubbie Station is responsible for around 10% of the country’s cotton output and is now entirely held by the Sydney-based company.