Cotton crops slumping most since 1993 as China buys

Cotton harvests are heading for the biggest drop in more than two decades as farmers from the U.S. to India reduce planting and China increases demand for higher- quality imports.

Crops will tumble 11 percent, the most since 1993, to 23.2 million metric tons in the year beginning Aug. 1, data from the International Cotton Advisory Committee show.

Farmers will reduce sowing to 31.58 million hectares (78 million acres), a 7.7 percent decline and the largest in 11 years, according to Washington-based ICAC, which represents 41 governments. By July 2014, stockpiles will shrink 4.9 percent to 15.9 million tons, the first reduction in four years, the group’s data show.