Declining shipments of apparels had earlier kept the demand for cotton dull, but revival of export to the US and EU markets has pushed up cotton procurement by Bangladeshi spinners sharply in the past few months, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture.
The report shows that Bangladeshi spinners purchased 9,14,000 tonnes of cotton this year till September. In terms of volume, import increased by more than 12 per cent over the year.
Bangladesh, whose production of cotton is minimal, has now replaced Turkey as the second biggest buyer of cotton in the world, the largest buyer being China.
Bangladesh’s apparel industry relies heavily on cotton-based yarns as knitwear and denims account for nearly three-fourths of the country’s earnings from apparel export that amounted to $12.5 billion last year.
Mohammad Ayub, president of the Bangladesh Cotton Association — the group of cotton brokers — said that Uzbekistan and CIS countries still remain the major sources of cotton for Bangladeshi spinners though they are also undergoing a crisis in cotton production.
CIS cotton, sourced mainly through European traders, feeds more than 60 per cent of Bangladeshi spinners, while cotton from India, West Africa and USA are the next major sources.
The USDA’s report claimed that procurement of US cotton by Bangladeshi importers has increased considerably in the last one year. Bangladeshi spinners have inked deals for 54,000 tonnes of US cotton in the last one year. Around 3 per cent of US cotton shipments ended in Bangladesh last year, grabbing around 8 per cent of its market.
A Matin Chowdhury, a former president of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association, said that due to scarcity of cotton in other traditional sources, more and more Bangladeshi importers are now going to US.
For several years, Matin’s Knit Asia Group has bought US cotton for its spinning units which produce fine yarn for knitwear and coarse yarn for denim fabrics.
Cotton broker Ayub said that US exporters are showing more interest in the Bangladeshi market now.
A top executive of a large knitwear unit told New Age that the growing preference of many of the the new generation of spinning units for US cotton is also expanding the scope of export of US cotton here.
‘Owners of the newly set up spinning units have installed modern machineries, and they prefer high-quality and clean cotton even at a somewhat higher price, so they are going for US cotton,’ he said.
‘The Bangladesh government and apparel exporters’ associations should forge good relations with the US cotton industry so that our garments can bear the label: “Made in Bangladesh of US cotton”. This is likely to raise the volume and price of our exports to the US,’ he said.
