As of April 17, USDA reports that cotton plantings stand at 9 percent complete — compared to a five-year average of 12 percent.

While still early in the season, good progress was reported in California and Louisiana since the April 10 report.

In the past week, California planted 20 percent of their crop, with total progress moving from 15 percent to 35 percent complete. However, California lags their five-year average of 49 percent for this date.

Louisiana now stands at 28 percent complete, which is up from just 6 percent in the April 10 report. Louisiana also is well ahead of the five-year average of 11 percent.

Texas, which accounts for approximately one-half of US acres, stands at 12 percent complete, compared to a five-year average of 16 percent. Arizona, at 25 percent complete, is the other state that showed significant progress in the April 17 report. Plantings in other states are just getting under way.

Complete state-by-state progress can be found at www.cotton.org/econ/cropinfo/progress.cfm.