By Carah Hart 

The vice president of economics and policy analysis at the National Cotton Council says cotton prices are responding lower to trade retaliation from China.

“In just the last few days, cotton prices have dropped from about 68 cents to 63 cents on the May contract. It’s a pretty significant drop.”

Jody Campiche tells Brownfield other top buyers of U.S. cotton like Pakistan could follow suit in retaliation, affecting both U.S. cotton exports and imports. Another top buyer, Vietnam, is said to already be negotiating with President Trump, but Campiche says she’s not aware of the details.

She says many farmers still have old crop cotton to sell and the lower prices make parting with that crop more difficult.

“I don’t know if there’s necessarily a good price out there, it’s just limiting the amount of losses in the 2024 crop year.”

Campiche  says cotton acres might also be a casualty of the trade war with farmers in the Mississippi Delta planting more corn instead this spring.

To survive, she says cotton growers will need a new farm bill or ad-hoc trade assistance from the USDA and both are to be determined.