Interview with Mr Hennie Bruwer

Ours is a service orientated company representative of the total South African cotton pipeline representing cotton producers, ginners, spinners, clothing and the household textile sector, consumers and labour. At Cotton SA, we are engaged into activities like rendering information service to all role players; promoting cotton production and usage; check on maintenance of quality norms; co-ordination in research; facilitating development of small scale cotton farming sector; acting as representative industry forum; and last but not least – overseeing implementation of Cotton Strategic Plan.

Cotton has great value as a rotational crop in South Africa and especially works well with wheat. South African cotton yields, compared to the rest of Africa are also outstanding. Yields are lately on average about 1000 kilograms cotton lint per hectare which is the highest in Africa. Although local cotton production is small, the qualities produced are as a rule excellent, with about 80% of the crop normally in the higher quality categories of Middling to Good Middling. The quality profile of the SA cotton crop predominantly falls within the medium to high category cottons that are highly suitable for export. Due to low levels of contamination the SA crop is rated amongst the least contaminated cotton in the world which gives SA a competitive advantage over many of its counterparts in Africa. The cotton crop is also homogeneous in terms of quality. This can be explained by the standardisation of varieties as basically only two varieties are cultivated in the country. From the above it is clear that there is a future for the primary cotton industry in South Africa with real prospects to expand production again, especially in the emerging farming sector.

Over the past few seasons, cotton production in South Africa has gradually been declining to reach the lowest level in more than 45 years in the 2009/10 marketing season. The expected crop of about 8 500 tons cotton lint is one of the smallest on record and is about 90% less than the record crop of 20 years ago.

Were it not for the introduction of biotech cotton 10 years ago which enabled irrigation growers to increase their yields by almost 50% over this period, irrigated cotton would probably have followed the same trend as dryland cotton production.

Cotton consumption by local spinning mills has shown a similar decline as production. Over the past 10 years the local consumption of cotton decreased by about 39% and is currently about 45% down from levels of 6 years ago. This trend can mainly be ascribed to the continued imports of low-priced textiles and apparel from Asia and also because of the relative stronger Rand against the US dollar, all of which impact negatively on local demand as well as on textile and clothing exports. The decline in the economy as a result of the current global economic crisis further contributes to the declining demand for cotton.

At this stage a further decrease in cotton lint consumption by South African spinning mills is expected for the 2009/10 marketing year. Please click here to view further details of Hectares Planted & Yield For SA.

The decrease in cotton production over recent years can mainly be attributed to the following factors:

•To the perception that cotton farming is no longer a viable option in view of the more favourable prices of other competing summer crops (world wide trend).

•Cotton prices over recent years have not increased to the same extent as in the case of other summer crops (world wide trend).

•Cotton faces stiff competition from crops such as maize and sunflower where prices offer farmers greater profitability whilst requiring less management inputs (world wide trend).

•The high input cost has made it very risky for dryland farmers to plant cotton at prevailing prices. Dryland cotton farming in the past formed the base of SA’s cotton production (10 years ago two thirds of the RSA’s cotton was planted under dryland, about 67 000 ha, for the current season less than 2 000 ha are estimated to be planted under dryland).

•The low international prices of recent years which discouraged any growth in cotton production, was in part due to subsidies provided by many governments of large cotton producing countries to their cotton industries.

•The Rand which remained relatively strong against the US dollar over recent years, has also played a role.

The decline in South African cotton production and consumption does not necessarily mean that there is no longer a future for cotton in South Africa. On the contrary, although the importance of domestically produced cotton, in terms of its gross value compared to other South African field crops is low, it is a crop highly suitable for small-scale farming as it is drought tolerant and non-perishable. Cotton production is also labour intensive, provides numerous job opportunities on farm level and production can be expanded without causing surpluses. Although cotton production may not always seem to be financially lucrative, it is often the most economic and viable crop in marginal dryland production areas. In the traditional cotton growing area of Makhathini in Northern KwaZulu-Natal for example, where more than 4000 small-scale cotton farmers reside, cotton is often the only commodity that can be planted due to the irregular rainfall in the region. In this region and in other marginal dryland production areas, cotton contributes to the social upliftment of people and assists in rural development and the elimination of poverty. As cotton is a cash crop it impacts positively on the households of rural communities in terms of food security and income levels and can be regarded as a major vehicle to empower emerging farmers.

The Cotton Mark is a registered trademark launched by South African cotton producers as a quality mark for cotton merchandise.

Since 1985, the use of the Cotton Mark was granted to most of the important players in the cotton pipeline and the mark has become a true standard against which all cotton produce is measured.

Since the launch of the Cotton Mark, ongoing marketing, promotional and educational campaigns were executed in print and electronic media, point-of-sale campaigns and competitions including the trade and consumers.

Cotton SA is also awarding players in the cotton industry for excellence by way of the coveted annual Cotton SA awards.

The aims and benefits are;

To enable the consumer to identify locally manufactured or imported cotton goods.

To inform the consumer about the quality and inherent characteristics contained in cotton merchandise.

To create a selling point for the merchandise of the authorised Cotton Mark users.

To share in the ongoing promotional and marketing campaigns by creating a consumer and trade awareness on a national basis. The use of a registered trade mark, which is protected by South African law.

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