Dry weather has enabled the 2008 cotton harvest to advance in Shandong and across the North China Plain. Approximately 70% of the crop has been picked in the Dezhou City area of Shandong, where growers are hoarding their seed cotton and storing it in their homes and sheds. Farmers have only sold approximately 30% of the cotton that has been picked. In the Linqing City area, 60% of the expected crop has been picked, with a few locations reaching 80% completion. Seed cotton prices are weak in Shandong Province. Cotton ginners have been very slow to build stocks, with only about one-third of ginning companies starting to purchase seed cotton, which is attributed to a lack of confidence in forward cotton prices. So far, many ginners have lost money on their limited cottonseed procurement due to extremely weak cotton lint prices.
