Cotton price rise upsets South African consumers

25 Nov '10

2 min read

As the cotton prices surge in international markets, it would also have a bearing on the domestic wholesale and retail sectors, and is expected to cause a rise in the prices of clothes, towels and linen.

As massive floods in North Eastern China and Pakistan have destroyed cotton crops leading to a supply scarcity, this has caused the raw cotton prices to rise by almost two times over the last year.

South Africa has been importing cotton clothing in larger magnitude since 2002, with China being a major exporter of textile and apparel to the country.

Massive floods in Pakistan have devastated cotton crops worth one billion dollar.

The rise in prices of the commodity hit 15 year high, last month. This rise in the commodity price is also attributable to monsoon in India, and its stand of imposing a ceiling on exports of cotton, in an effort to secure availability of cotton for domestic textile industry, which is experiencing severe scarcity of raw material.

This stand of India has compelled the buyers to view other countries like Turkey and Brazil for supplying cotton.

A direct correlation is seen between the amount of cotton that the producers buy and the commodity prices. The more they buy, the more is the rise in prices.

Consumers in South Africa are already stressed by the hike in prices and if the clothing prices continue to rise, this pressure is bound to persist.

Fibre2fashion News Desk-India