Cotton: Extraction

Machines in Texas, hands in parts of South Asia

Cotton is a warm-season crop grown from Texas to Xinjiang, Gujarat, Mato Grosso and Punjab. Much of it is irrigated, and pests demand heavy spraying or genetically modified varieties. Picking is mechanised in the United States, Australia, Brazil and much of China, but still done by hand in parts of South Asia and Africa. Gins separate lint from seed; the seed is crushed for oil and feed meal, so cotton is a joint product. Lint is pressed into bales, then graded for staple length, strength and colour.

Cotton is an annual crop, so area can change every season. It grows in warm climates with a long frost-free period and needs plenty of water. Three systems produce most lint: high-input irrigated farming with very high yields (Xinjiang, Australia), large mechanised farms on rainfed or partly irrigated land (US, Brazil), and smallholder farming, much of it rainfed and hand-picked (India, Pakistan, West Africa). All cotton then passes through ginning, which splits seed cotton into lint and seed, and spinning. Yields differ fivefold across systems, which is why India, with the largest area, does not have the largest crop.

Methods compared

How each method works

Fields are drip or furrow irrigated, planted densely, sprayed and machine-harvested. Xinjiang supplies most of China's crop. Australia grows almost entirely for export and swings with water allocations.

Highest yields in the world, but depends on scarce water; Xinjiang cotton faces US import bans under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act.

Large farms plant genetically modified varieties and pick with module-building harvesters. In Brazil's Mato Grosso and Bahia much cotton follows soybeans as a second crop. Both countries export most of what they grow.

Reliable quality and large export lots; US output swings with Texas rainfall, Brazil's with the soybean calendar.

Millions of small farmers grow Bt cotton under monsoon rain, with some irrigation in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. Seed cotton (kapas) is sold to ginners or, when prices fall below the minimum support price, to the Cotton Corporation of India.

Low cash costs and huge area, but low yields, pink bollworm damage and heavy dependence on the monsoon.

Saw gins (US, Brazil, Australia) or roller gins (much of India) separate fibre from seed. Lint is baled and classed, then mills open, card, comb and spin it into yarn of a set count.

Ginning is cheap and local; spinning is capital-intensive and has moved to China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Turkey.

Who does it: global

Who does it: India

India is the second-largest grower (22.4% of world lint in 2023, FAOSTAT) and second-largest user: 26.25 million bales of mill use against 23.8 million of output in 2025/26, so it turned net importer with 5.17 million bales of imports (USDA WASDE, Oct 2026). CCI bought 100 lakh bales at MSP in 2024-25, about 34% of a 294 lakh-bale crop, mostly in Telangana (40 lakh) and Maharashtra (30 lakh).