Cotton System Consumption and Stocks ISSN: 2378-2471 Released June 1, 2015, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Highlights February 2015 contained 28 days. March 2015 contained 31 days. April 2015 contained 30 days. Extra long staple cotton consumed on the cotton system was 998 thousand pounds in April 2015, down slightly from March 2015 and down 4 percent from February 2015. April stocks on hand on the last Saturday of the month totaled 1.9 million pounds up 58 percent from March and up 72 percent from February. Total Manmade fiber consumed on the cotton system was 35.3 million pounds during April 2015, up 11 percent from March 2015 and up 61 percent from February 2015. Of the total manmade fiber consumed, over 85 percent was polyester staple. Total number of spindles on the cotton system was 1.10 million during April 2015. Active spindles consuming 100 percent cotton was 606 thousand in April 2015, up 2 percent from March 2015 and up 2 percent from February 2015. Consumption and Stocks - United States: February 2015 - April 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Item : February 2015 : March 2015 : April 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Extra long staple : Consumed : Running bales ....................................number: 2,081 2,001 2,001 Weight .....................................1,000 pounds: 1,041 1,000 998 Stocks on hand (last Saturday of the month) : Running bales ....................................number: 2,211 2,413 3,796 Weight .....................................1,000 pounds: 1,106 1,206 1,901 : Rayon and acetate staple : Consumed .....................................1,000 pounds: 742 758 1,040 Stocks on hand (last Saturday of the month) ..1,000 pounds: 661 575 553 : Polyester staple : Consumed .....................................1,000 pounds: 18,683 27,849 30,255 Stocks on hand (last Saturday of the month) ..1,000 pounds: 18,936 19,895 20,929 : Other manmade fiber staple : Consumed .....................................1,000 pounds: 2,514 3,281 3,986 Stocks on hand (last Saturday of the month) ..1,000 pounds: 5,588 2,798 3,853 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Spindles in Place, Active Spindles and Spindle Hours Operated - United States: February 2015 - April 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Item : February 2015 : March 2015 : April 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cotton-system spindles in place : Ring spindles .......................................1,000: 733 733 734 Airjet spindles .....................................1,000: 30 30 30 Open-end spindles ...................................1,000: 339 337 337 : Cotton-system spindles active : Spindles consuming 100% cotton ......................1,000: 593 597 605 million hours: 391 438 466 Spindles consuming 100% manmade fiber ...............1,000: 34 23 28 million hours: 20 13 19 Spindles consuming mixtures or blends ...............1,000: 460 468 457 million hours: 292 291 336 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Statistical Methodology Survey Procedures: Cotton System Consumption and Stocks is part of the Current Agricultural Industrial Reports (CAIR) program. CAIR reports are administered under NASS's Census of Agriculture program. Response to CAIR surveys are required by law (Title 7, U.S. Code). Data are collected from all known mills that consume cotton. The census universe was determined during operation profile interviews which were completed for each potential facility to identify the presence of cotton consumption and spindle activity in 2014. In the Cotton and Manmade Fiber Staple survey questionnaires, mills are asked for previous calendar month data on cotton and manmade fiber consumed, stocks and spindle activity. Mills are mailed questionnaires with the options of completing the survey by mail or by Electronic Data Reporting (EDR). For surveys not received in a reasonable amount of time, telephone follow-up is conducted. Estimating Procedures: Imputation is done for operations with non-response by using historical data and current data relationships. Data for reporting firms are added to estimates for non-reporting firms to obtain National totals. Revision Policy: Data are revised the following month based on late reports or corrected data. Final figures are published in the annual summary of the following year. The first annual summary will be published in March of 2016. Reliability: Approximately 50 reports are received each month which represent about 95 percent of total spindles. Monthly data can vary due to different firms reporting month to month. Survey data are also subject to non-sampling errors such as omissions and mistakes in reporting and in processing the data. While these errors cannot be measured directly, they are minimized by carefully reviewing all reported data for consistency and reasonableness. Information Contacts Listed below are the commodity statisticians in the Environmental, Economics, and Demographics Branch of the National Agricultural Statistics Service to contact for additional information. E-mail inquiries may be sent to nass@nass.usda.gov. Troy Joshua, Chief, Environmental, Economics, and Demographics Branch.. (202) 720-6146 Scott Shimmin, Head, Environmental and Demographics Section............ (202) 720-0684 Stephanie Brennan - Field Crops Chemical Use ....................... (202) 690-0392 David Colwell - Current Agricultural Industrial Reports............. (202) 690-3233 Doug Farmer - Vegetable Chemical Use................................ (202) 720-7492 Ginger Harris - Census of Agriculture............................... (502) 582-5293 Steve Peterson - Farms, Land in Farms, Census of Agriculture........ (202) 720-5581 Jackie Ross - Census of Agriculture................................. (202) 720-7644 Miste Salmon - Current Agricultural Industrial Reports.............. (202) 690-3226 Theresa Varner - Farm Labor, Chemical Use........................... 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