THE USE of Australian cotton in fine count yarns, improved Australian productivity, and increased eco-awareness of the textile industry were the key themes of an extremely well attended series of offshore meetings held by the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) and Austrade in early March.
A delegation of eight Australian cotton industry representatives travelled to Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore to promote Australian cotton to both established and potential buyers as part of the Austrade supported Export Market Development Grant Scheme (EMDG). ACSA has now been carrying out EMDG promotional trips for nearly 10 years.
Indonesia and Thailand are very important markets for Australian cotton importing approximately 33% and 18% of the Australian crop respectively placing them behind China as Australia’s 2nd and 3rd largest customers. Indonesia and Thailand are also regarded as reliable markets as they have very little domestic cotton production making them 100% reliant on imported cotton and willing to buy forward. This willingness to buy forward is very important as it gives Australian merchants the ability to buy forward from Australian growers.
Since ACSA’s last seminars in these countries, in June 2007, the Australian industry has endured challenges but has also seen many positive changes that provided good subject matter for our seminars. The main messages we delivered included:
1. Remarkable productivity improvements, specifically with respect to yields and water use efficiency, will help underpin Australian production making us a reliable supplier going forward.
2. Continually improving quality is taking Australian cotton to a new level and seeing it replace SJV as the world’s premium upland growth.
3. Australian Long Staple (ALS) varieties have been proven via the Premium Cotton Initiative to be suitable for up to 70ne count yarns and for blending with Extra Long Staple cottons. (Australian cotton has traditionally been used for 30-40ne count yarns).
4. Australia’s BMP program ensures that Australian cotton is grown in an environmentally responsible and sustainable manner and every bale is traceable back to the field it was grown in.
The seminars were well attended in both Jakarta and Bangkok with in excess of 60 participants present at each including most of the high-end spinners in each market. The presentations were received very well with good Q&A sessions followed by informal discussions at the functions after the seminars. It became apparent that environmental issues are at the forefront of a lot of consumers’ minds with numerous questions being asked about BMP and its credentials when compared with organic cotton. The delegation proved to be well equipped to answer environmental questions with Cotton Australia represented by Rob Cairns.
Whilst in Bangkok the group visited one of Thailand’s leading spinners, Thai Rung Textiles. Thai Rung Textiles is participating in the Premium Cotton Initiative spinning trials and it was valuable for the group to be able to meet with the spinning mill staff and discuss the trials. It is certainly apparent that with better ALS varieties in the pipeline there is potential for genuine premiums to be achieved for these top end fibres. We do however have to continue to investigate how we can minimise neps and short fibre content in these cottons if they are going to reach their full potential.
The final leg of the trip involved attendance at the International Cotton Association conference in Singapore. This was a significant conference as it was the first held by the ICA outside Liverpool and acknowledged that Asia is becoming, or has become, the heart of the world cotton business.
The theme of the conference was “Protecting Your Cotton Business” and aimed to promote the missions of the ICA, those being “…ensure contract sanctity in the global trade of cotton” and “…protect the legitimate interests of all those who trade cotton, whether buyer or seller”.
When compared with the trade of other commodities around the world the cotton trade is very well controlled and honest due to the existence of mechanisms such as the ICA default list which exposes cotton businesses which have not “played by the rules”. It is important that as the focus of the cotton trade moves out of Europe and the US into Asia that the trade maintains its integrity.
The conference was a sell out with 450 people in attendance and was regarded as a great success by the organisers and delegates. Hopefully with continued promotion and education the cotton trade will continue to embrace the ideals of the ICA.
ACSA would like to take this opportunity to thank Cotton Australia and AWH for supporting its promotional activities by sending Rob Cairns, Cotton Australia Policy Manager, and Graeme Wood, AWH National Logistics Manager – Cotton, as delegates. Their support and input was greatly appreciated.