Nearly 80 percent of the world's cotton output is harvested by seven countries, all but one is above the equator. As of December 1997, world cotton production for 1997/98 is forecast at 90.1 million 480-pound bales, up 1 percent from the 1996/97 crop. World area is forecast to increase just under one-half a percent while yield is up a similar amount from a year ago. The world's largest cotton producers, the United States and China, are projected to account for 42 percent of global production, down from 43 percent last year.