As per Cotton Council International (CCI) president Keith T Lucas, the US wants to double its cotton exports to Bangladesh over the next five years. Lucas says this is possible as Bangladesh is the number one importer of cotton now. Currently, the US exports 160,000 bales of cotton in a year to some Bangladeshi spinning mills, which is only 3 per cent of the total consumption of cotton by the country in a year, according to Bruce A Atherley, executive director of CCI, the export arm of National Cotton Council of America. Atherley and Lucas were in Dhaka recently to attend a seminar on cotton.

Atherley said that if Bangladesh’s garment exports increase at the targeted rate of 12 per cent, the country’s cotton consumption will increase by 10 per cent. Cotton consumption in Bangladesh has been increasing because almost all globally renowned apparel retailers like H&M, Zara and Walmart purchase garment items from here in bulk, he said. With higher demand for garment items from international retailers, the backward linkage industries like spinning, dyeing, finishing, weaving and printing industries have developed lots in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, local spinners can meet 90 per cent of the demand for raw materials by the knitwear sector and the weavers can supply 40 per cent of the demand for woven sector, according to industry insiders.