Bangladesh eyes Sub-Saharan African cotton

13 Sep '10

2 min read

As India has imposed a ban on exporting cotton, hence Bangladesh is now eyeing African countries for purchasing cotton.

Commerce Minister Faruk Khan while speaking at an event on Bangladesh cotton marketing and textile training said that, they would be exploiting the opportunities of importing inexpensive but superior quality cotton from Africa.

Globally mounting demand coupled with India, the second largest global producer of cotton, imposing a ban on export of the commodity, the prices of cotton spun yarn had almost doubled to 90 cents a pound in April.

A major portion of the cotton processed in the country comes from imports and while India prior to the export ban contributed around 15 percent of the same, the spinners in the country are now hassled.

According to the BTMA President Abdul Hai Sarker, they can now consider the Sub-Saharan countries to replace India as the country's main cotton supplier. While Bangladesh uses about four million cotton bales each year, the Sub-Saharan countries are capable of providing quite a good percentage of that consumption.

However, time taken to convey the raw material is an issue here, as presently even it is taking months to convey the material to Bangladesh from these countries.

Considering the situation, the spinners/importers in Bangladesh have urged the Sub-Saharan nations to build up a buffer stock at the country's port, which would facilitate availability of the raw material within two to three days.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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