According to statistics, consumption of raw cotton in the country has stayed stagnant in the current fiscal, due to many factors which include a slowdown in global markets, an increase in imports of cotton yarn from India and an erratic power and gas supply.
The country had imported 4 million bales (1 bale=170 kg) of cotton in the previous fiscal (July'07-June'08) and import in the current fiscal is expected to be more or less the same when compared to the last fiscal.
Bangladesh imports 70 percent of its cotton requirements from Uzbekistan and the rest is procured from USA, West Africa, Turkmenistan and some Commonwealth Independent States (CIS).
In the current year, there was also a unprecedented increase in imports of cotton yarn from India as prices quoted by the Indian spinners was far lower than those quoted by the Bangladeshi textile industry.