Bangladesh’s cotton traders have expressed concern over the uncertainty of availability of cotton and its rising prices fuelled by the gap between supply and demand. They called on readymade garment exporters to be cautious about rising price of the industrial raw material and to negotiate accordingly in time for receiving work orders. The global cotton index hit its decade highest index on September 28 last and maintained a rising trend. As cotton harvesting is taking place in most cotton producing countries, prices was expected to go down. But the reality is different.
About 25.7 million tons of cotton were forecasted to be produced against an estimated use of 25.99 million tons in fiscal year 2020-21, while 25.66 million tons of cotton were used globally. Millers are following a wait and watch strategy. Bangladesh exporters expect yarn prices to go up further in December in line with cotton prices.
Many exporters during the pandemic period took work orders even below their production cost mainly to sustain their business and pay bank loans and worker’s wages. But now there are plenty of work orders and ample opportunities for placing more orders due to the electricity problem in China and closure of factories in Vietnam due to Covid 19.
