Cotton growers are expected to receive high returns for their produce in 2021, as the industry expands into markets across Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. Australian growers and shippers claim Chinese spinning mills were told last October to stop buying Australian grown cotton, and the billion-dollar a year trade essentially stopped. Toowoomba-based cotton trader and industry analyst Pete Johnson estimated growers would lose a $10-$20 a bale premium without China in the market, but that returns to growers this year were expected to be "historically high". "Would we prefer the Chinese were there to take our cotton? Absolutely, but [we are] spreading our risk into a range of other markets throughout the subcontinent and Asia," Mr Johnson said. "Spreading that risk is ultimately not a bad thing for the industry.
Kath Sullivan, 'China's trade sanctions on Australian agriculture force farmers to find new markets', ABC News