Overall, the recent rains have been quite beneficial to the East China cotton belt. On the North China Plain, the Shandong crop appears in very good shape. The crop is growing, with plants reaching an average height of 12 centimeters. Some early planted fields reached 18 centimeters. Growers indicate that plant condition at this time is better than a year-ago. In Hebei, the recent rains eased the drought concerns. Most plants in the Changzhou down to the Hengshui cotton belt are now 10 to 15 centimeters high, with seven to eight leaves. Some growers indicate that total planted area in Hebei may be higher than the initial forecast of 638,466 hectares.
In the south, Hunan cotton acreage has proven much larger than initially forecast. Planted cotton acreage is believed to have reached 173,333 hectares, which is much higher than the initial forecast of 137,000 hectares and is the highest since 199,000 hectares were planted in 1998. The crop is developing well. The growers appear to have been attracted to cotton by the seed cotton subsidy and new crop insurance scheme available in the province for cotton.
