In its June acreage report, USDA projected 2013 U.S. cotton plantings at 10.25 million acres, down 16.8 percent from 2012.

Upland planted area is estimated to have dropped 17.0 percent to 10.03 million acres. Extra-long staple (ELS) cotton producers planted 226,000 acres, down 5.2 percent.

USDA’s June projection is up 225,000 acres from their initial 2013 estimate released in March.

On a regional basis, upland area in the Southeast is down 8.1 percent to 2.53 million acres. Relative to 2012, only Florida and Georgia saw an increase in plantings.

Florida producers are expected to plant 125,000 acres (+15.7 percent) while Georgia will see a slight increase in plantings with an estimated 1.30 million acres of cotton planted (+0.8 percent).

All remaining states will see a decline in terms of planted acres with the largest percentage decline taking place in North Carolina, down 28.2 percent to 420,000 acres, followed by Virginia (-18.6 percent) and Alabama (-13.2 percent).

Planted acres are expected to fall to 1.30 million acres in the Mid-South, down 36.0 percent from the previous year.

All states saw a decline in planted acres with cotton plantings dropping more than 40 percentin both Arkansas (-46.2 percent) and Louisiana (-43.5 percent) resulting in estimated plantings of 320,000 acres for Arkansasand 130,000 acres for Louisiana.

Mississippi is down 155,000 acres to an estimated 320,000 planted acres, while Tennessee is down 120,000 acres to an estimated 260,000 acres. Missouri is down 80,000 acres when compared to 2012, with 270,000 acres planted.

In the Southwest, estimated upland cotton area is down 14.9 percent to 5.88 million acres. USDA estimates that the largest decline in actual cotton acres will occur in Texas, down 850,000 acres (-13.0 percent) from the previous year. Oklahoma will see the largest percentage decline (-50.8 percent) in the region with an estimated 150,000 acres. Kansas is expected to fall to 30,000 acres (-46.4 percent).

Estimated upland area in the West is down 17.3 percent to 320,000 acres. Producers in New Mexico are estimated to decrease plantings 33.3 percent to 30,000 acres while Arizona is expected to fall to 170,000 acres (-15.0 percent). Plantings in California are down an estimated 15.5 percent to 120,000 acres.

USDA estimates ELS plantings of 226,000 acres, down 5.2 percent from 2012. ELS acres are down in Arizona (-66.7 percent) and California (-6.7 percent) while New Mexico is expected to increase acres to 4,000 (+66.7 percent) and Texas is estimated to plant 11,000 acres of ELS cotton (+37.5 percent).