Short answer: USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) publishes Cotton Ginnings to count how many bales U.S. gins have ginned so far. The count is taken on fixed survey dates from August (Texas only) through March, and NASS releases 14 scheduled reports a season. It also publishes an annual summary in May that adds county totals, gin counts and average bale weights. The headline number is running bales: the actual bales that come off the press, whatever they weigh. To get a standardized figure, the annual report converts those to 480-pound equivalent bales.
What the report is and who it surveys
The Cotton Ginnings survey is a census, not a sample. NASS tries to get a report from every active gin in the 17 cotton-producing states, and it builds its list of gins each season with help from USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service classing offices. Gins report how many Upland and American Pima bales they have ginned before each survey date. They also report an estimate of how many more they expect to gin and the average price they paid for cottonseed.
Because every known gin is surveyed, NASS says the estimates "have no sampling variability." Errors can still come from omissions, duplication and reporting mistakes. When a gin doesn't respond, NASS estimates its bales from administrative data, or from neighboring gins and the gin's own earlier reports. Response is voluntary, at roughly 90 percent according to NASS.
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When the reports come out
NASS's survey guide lists 13 survey reference dates a season:
| Survey date | Who is surveyed |
|---|---|
| August 1 | Texas only |
| September 1 | Texas only |
| September 15, October 1, October 15 | All cotton states |
| November 1, November 15 | All cotton states |
| December 1, December 15 | All cotton states |
| January 1, January 15 | All cotton states |
| February 1 | All cotton states |
| End of season (March 1) | All cotton states |
Source: USDA NASS, Guide to NASS Surveys: Cotton Ginnings.
Releases follow the same rhythm. NASS publishes 14 scheduled Cotton Ginnings reports each season. Some come out alongside the August through February Crop Production reports, others around the 25th of each month from September through January, and an end-of-season release comes around March 25. The Cotton Ginnings Annual Summary comes out with the May Crop Production report.
Exact dates move from year to year. Check the NASS reports calendar or the Cotton Ginnings page on USDA's ESMIS site rather than relying on a fixed list.
Running bales vs 480-pound equivalent bales
This is the most common point of confusion in the report.
- Running bales are the physical bales a gin produces. Agricultural economist John Robinson, writing in Southern Ag Today, describes them as bales that "vary in weight but are around 500 pounds."
- 480-pound equivalent bales, also called statistical bales, are the standard unit for USDA production forecasts and supply-and-demand estimates.
The two numbers differ because the average bale weighs more than 480 pounds. In the 2025 Summary, the average net weight per bale was 491.5 pounds for all U.S. cotton. So 13,539,200 running bales ginned worked out to 13,864,250 equivalent 480-pound bales.
| 2025 crop | Running bales ginned | Equivalent 480-lb bales | Average lb per running bale |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 13,539,200 | 13,864,250 | 491.5 |
| Texas | 5,280,150 | 5,392,550 | 490.2 |
| Georgia | 1,740,400 | 1,791,900 | 494.2 |
Source: USDA NASS, Cotton Ginnings 2025 Summary (May 2026).
USDA's Economic Research Service uses its own rule of thumb when converting: Upland running bales × 1.025, and extra-long staple running bales × 1.03, equal statistical bales.
How to read the seasonal report
Each in-season report opens with a table of running bales ginned to date, by state and crop type (Upland, American Pima and All). The same date is shown for several earlier years so the pace can be compared.
Read it in three steps:
- Find the survey date in the column header. The numbers are cumulative to that date, not bales ginned since the last report.
- Compare across years on the same date. The October 9, 2026 report put U.S. running bales ginned through October 1, 2026 at 917,150, compared with 1,144,900 on October 1, 2024. Texas was at 744,000, compared with 932,750 two years earlier.
- Read the symbols. "(D)" means a number was withheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations. "(NA)" means not available. A dash represents zero.
There's a gap to know about. The 2025 columns for October 1 and October 15 are marked not available "due to the lapse in Federal funding." Those surveys were never published. So comparisons on those dates have to skip 2025 and use 2024 or earlier.
Cumulative totals also tell you how far along a state is. Divide the to-date figure by that state's final total from a previous year's summary to see how much of a typical crop is already ginned. Keep in mind that crop size changes every year.
What the annual summary adds
The May summary is where the season's numbers get final revisions and much more detail. NASS says in-season estimates "are subject to revision in the annual report released in May."
The 2025 Summary (May 2026) includes:
- State totals for four crop years. U.S. running bales ginned were 14,115,850 (2022), 11,756,250 (2023), 14,074,950 (2024) and 13,539,200 (2025).
- Each state's share. Texas ginned 39.0% of U.S. running bales in 2025. Georgia ginned 12.9% and Arkansas 10.5%.
- The full biweekly series from November 1, 2025 through March 1, 2026, so the pace of the whole season is visible.
- Active gins. NASS counted 419 active U.S. gins in 2025, down from 446 in 2024. Texas had 150. Sixty percent of gins processed more than 20,000 running bales, compared with 58% the season before.
- Gins by size group. 121 U.S. gins ginned 40,000 bales or more, and 12 ginned fewer than 3,000.
- County detail. Running bales, equivalent bales, active gins and average bale weight, by county and crop-reporting district.
Reading the county table
Many counties show "(D)" because publishing their totals would reveal a single gin's volume. Where figures are published, they show where ginning is concentrated:
| County (2025 crop) | Running bales ginned | Active gins |
|---|---|---|
| Lubbock County, TX | 562,150 | 7 |
| Hockley County, TX | 250,850 | 5 |
| Hale County, TX | 241,950 | 7 |
| Dooly County, GA | 220,700 | 6 |
| Gaines County, TX | 195,800 | 6 |
| Colquitt County, GA | 173,300 | 5 |
| Dawson County, TX | 99,900 | 4 |
Source: USDA NASS, Cotton Ginnings 2025 Summary (May 2026). Selected counties with published figures.
Lubbock County had the most running bales of any U.S. county with a published figure. The county table is built from gin reports, so it reflects where cotton was ginned. NASS's active-gin counts may also differ from directory listings.
What the market reads into ginning pace
NASS describes the report as a measure of "the size of production or inventories so that prices can move in line with supply." It's meant to give farmers, buyers, lenders and others the same information at the same time.
Late in the season, ginnings become one of two reliable cross-checks on USDA's production forecast, the other being USDA-AMS classing counts. In a February 2025 Southern Ag Today piece, Robinson compared both against the USDA forecast for the 2024 crop. He found AMS had classed about 99% of the forecast crop, and that NASS's February 1 running bales, converted to statistical bales, were within about 60,000 bales of it. With both measures that close, he wrote that he didn't expect any market-changing surprises left on the production side.
Find the gins behind the numbers
Use the directory to look up the gins in the counties the report covers:
- Cotton gins in Lubbock County, TX
- Cotton gins in Hale County, Texas
- Cotton gins in Dawson County, TX
- Cotton gins in Gaines County, TX
- Cotton gins near Lubbock and the South Plains
- List of cotton gins in Texas
- Cotton gins in Georgia
For how gins collect and report their own data, see How Cotton Gins Handle Reporting Data.
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FAQ
What is the USDA Cotton Ginnings report?
It's a NASS report counting the running bales U.S. gins have ginned to date. It's based on a census of all active gins in the 17 cotton-producing states, and an annual summary with county detail comes out each May.
How often does the Cotton Ginnings report come out?
NASS publishes 14 scheduled reports per season, plus the annual summary in May. Surveys start August 1 in Texas, run on the 1st and 15th of each month in all states from mid-September through February 1, and end with an end-of-season survey.
What is a running bale?
A running bale is a physical bale as it comes off the gin press, whatever its weight. Running bales generally weigh more than 480 pounds. In 2025 the U.S. average was 491.5 pounds.
Why are 480-pound equivalent bales higher than running bales?
Because the average bale weighs more than 480 pounds. Converting the total lint weight to 480-pound units gives a larger count: 13.86 million equivalent bales vs. 13.54 million running bales in 2025.
Why do some counties show (D)?
"(D)" means NASS withheld the figure to avoid disclosing data for individual operations, usually because a county has only one or two gins.
Where can you find the report?
On USDA's ESMIS site under Cotton Ginnings and Cotton Ginnings Annual Summary, with release dates on the NASS reports calendar.
Sources
- USDA NASS. Guide to NASS Surveys: Cotton Ginnings (last modified Apr 8, 2026): census of all active gins in 17 states, AMS list supplement, survey reference dates, 14 scheduled reports, release timing, data uses, ~90% response rate. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Surveys/Guide_to_NASS_Surveys/Cotton_Ginnings/index.php
- USDA NASS. Cotton Ginnings 2025 Summary (May 2026): state and U.S. running bales 2022–2025, percent by state, average net bale weight, equivalent 480-lb bales, biweekly 2025 series, county table, 419 active gins (446 in 2024), size groups, methodology, revision policy, funding-lapse footnote. https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795901/ctgnan26.pdf
- USDA NASS. Cotton Ginnings, released Oct 9, 2026: running bales ginned through Oct 1, 2023–2026. https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/796100/ctgn4126.txt
- USDA ESMIS. Cotton Ginnings publication page. https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/publication/cotton-ginnings
- USDA NASS. Reports calendar. https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Calendar/reports_by_date.php
- USDA ERS. Cotton, Wool, and Textile Data: Documentation (updated Apr 1, 2026): 1 statistical bale ≈ 480 lb; Upland running bales × 1.025; ELS × 1.03. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cotton-wool-and-textile-data/documentation
- Robinson, J. "Late Season Indicators for 2024/25 U.S. Cotton Production." Southern Ag Today 5(9.3), Feb 26, 2025. https://southernagtoday.org/2025/02/26/late-season-indicators-for-2024-25-u-s-cotton-production/
