The country's cotton production should end the year between 13% and 19% higher than the previous year and return to the pre-pandemic pace. This is encouraging news for the Brazil It's the world.
The sanitary crisis, which brought down demand from the global textile industry, interrupted the advance of national production, which had doubled in just five years.
The trend of production growth this year should consolidate Brazil as the fourth largest producer and second largest exporter.
At harvest planted in 2019, 3 million tons were produced, in 2017, 1.5 million and for 2022, production is estimated between 2.6 and 2.8 million tons.
The quality of Brazilian cotton also attracts the foreign market, the main market being Asia, where the largest clothing industries have been consolidated.
Around 84% of national production bears the “sustainable cotton” seal, only awarded to those who have a kind of “rural ESG”.
It is necessary to comply with 178 quality requirements, including social, economic and environmental requirements, labor laws, the Forest Code and actions to benefit the health and safety of workers.
Despite the growth in production expected for this year, productivity was not the best, more than 90% of the farms use a technique that depends on rainwater, and it did not come at the times and in the expected amounts.
The average kilogram of cotton per hectare for this year is lower than in 2021, when the planted area was smaller than the current one.
For 2023, the plan of the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers is to reach 1.7 million hectares, surpassing the area of the record crop of 2019.
“We shrunk with the pandemic. It was a very difficult decision. We came from the biggest harvest in history. The cotton was sold, but standing in the yard, no one came to get it. And we had to define the planting of the next crop”, says Júlio Cézar Busato, president of Abrapa.
Abrapa, shortly before Covid-19 became a global emergency, opened an office in Singapore to be close to Asian industrialists.
The growth of cotton production in recent years can be attributed to three main reasons, although cultivation is more difficult and expensive, it is more profitable than soybeans.
From planting to payment for the product sold, producers wait about a year, it takes time, but, according to them, the income pays off, the profit obtained from one hectare of cotton is equivalent to four hectares of soybeans.
Another reason for the high is demand, with the reduction of the home office and the resumption of social and professional activities around the world, the textile industry will recover its breath and continue on high.
There is also a practical reason, cotton needs a high amount of pesticides, which makes the land more prepared to receive the next crop.
About 65% of cotton in Brazil is planted as a second crop, between soybean and corn crops, which is why the largest harvests occur in regions where these crops predominate, such as Mato Grosso, Goiás and Bahia.
Cotton is an expensive and uninviting branch for farmers with less financial structure and experience.
The necessary inputs became more expensive and raised the cost of production, indispensable items, such as potassium chloride and phosphorus, are three to four times more expensive.
According to the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil, costs in Bahia are close to R$ 18 thousand per hectare, against R$ 15 thousand in comparison with the second half of last year.
The average expenditure on fertilizers alone jumped from R$3,000 to R$5,400.
One hour from Brasília, in Cristalina-GO, the first cotton crops appear on the side of the road.
Farmer Carlos Alberto Moresco, owner of GM Algodoeira, in the municipality of Goiás, says that he greatly reduced the planted area because of the drop in demand in the pandemic.
Even so, he is satisfied with the productivity favored by the fact that his farm is located in an area that has suffered less from the lack of rain.
“I shrunk the cotton and raised the soybeans. I have always planted around 2,000 hectares. Last year, there were 840. This year, 960. My productivity is very good. It will resemble or surprise last year's. The drought in Mato Grosso and Bahia did not affect our region so much. Our region will still have a reasonable production.” Moresco told the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo
Fonte: Jornal O Estado de São Paulo
