El Niño threatens at least half of global cotton

YORK – The 2026/27 cotton season is set to unfold against a backdrop of increasingly volatile weather, with a particularly strong El Niño expected to bring extreme heat, drought, heavy rainfall and flooding to countries responsible for around half of global production.

Unless you’ve recently returned from space, or a stricken, radio-less tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz since February, you will have heard that the ongoing El Niño weather event is supercharged by climate change. You could call it super-malevolent.