How to Read the USDA Cotton Ginnings Report — Running Bales Ginned to Date by State, Upland and Pima

As of 30 October 2026, 02:35 KST; most recently published report: Cotton Ginnings, released October 22, 2026, by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), counting U.S. running bales of the 2026 crop ginned through October 15, 2026. The NASS October 2026 calendar lists the October 22 and October 9 releases at 12:00 pm ET; the publication page lists the next releases on November 10, November 23, December 10 and December 22, 2026, at 12:00 PM without a time zone. Primary source: https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/796115/ctgn4326.txt^[1][3][4]

Comparison basis: bale counts are as published and are cumulative for the crop year to the stated date; two-week changes are this page's subtraction of the October 1 figures (from the October 9 release) from the October 15 figures, and the October 15, 2024 comparison, two years earlier, is this page's calculation rounded to one decimal, because the 2025 column is published as not available. Running bales are counted as ginned, not converted to 480-pound bales. The two releases, publication page and calendar are all from USDA and count as one source.^[1][2]

In three lines

1. Cotton Ginnings counts U.S. running bales ginned to date for the current crop, by state, twice a month during the season.
2. By October 15, 2026, 1,653,100 running bales of the 2026 crop had been ginned, up 735,950 from October 1 and 27.6% below the same date in 2024.
3. The 2025 figures are not available, and the next reports are listed for November 10 and November 23, 2026.^[1][2]

"This file contains the number of running bales ginned to date for all cotton and American-Pima cotton, by state; county ginnings released with mid-month state ginnings; March report also includes 480-lb. bales ginned and average bale weight by state."^[3]

How the count is made. "The cotton ginnings survey is an enumeration of all active gins and every effort is made to obtain a report from all ginners." "Ginners are asked to report the number of Upland and American Pima bales ginned prior to the data collection date." "If a completed report is not received from an active gin, the bales ginned are estimated using administrative data or imputed using current survey data for neighboring gins and the previously reported data for the imputed gin." "A final survey is conducted after gins finish ginning for the season."^[1]

Missing year. Every 2025 state entry is marked (NA); a footnote to the 2025 column attributes the missing data to the lapse in Federal funding: "Data not available due to the lapse in Federal funding." State entries marked (D) are withheld to avoid disclosing individual operations, so the published states do not add up to the U.S. total.^[1]

To date vs the latest two weeks. The figures are running totals. Ginnings between October 1 and October 15, 2026 were 735,950 bales (this page's subtraction of 917,150 from 1,653,100); in 2024 the same two weeks added 1,139,900 bales (from 1,144,900 to 2,284,800).^[1][2]

Pace vs crop size. By October 15, 2026, ginnings were 27.6% below the same date in 2024 and 4.1% below 2023 (this page's calculation). The report counts bales ginned so far, not the size of the crop, and does not explain why the pace differs between years.^[1][2]

Texas vs the rest. Texas accounted for 56.2% of U.S. bales ginned by October 15, 2026, down from 81.1% on October 1 (this page's calculation), while cumulative totals also increased in states including Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.^[1][2]

Upland vs American Pima. Of the 1,653,100 bales, 1,639,750 were Upland and 13,350 American Pima; on October 1 no Pima bales had been reported.^[1][2]

Census vs revision. "Cotton ginnings estimates are based on a census of all known ginners and therefore, have no sampling variability." Even so: "Cotton ginnings estimates are subject to revision in the annual report released in May and are based on a thorough review of all available data."^[1]