A report of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says Bangladesh’s raw cotton production in 2020-21 marketing year (August 2019 to July 2020) is forecast to slightly increase over current marketing year to 146,000 bales and imports are forecast to rebound to 7 million bales.

From August 2020 to July 2021, both yarn and fabric production levels are both projected to increase to 730,000 MT and 4.1 billion meters, which represents a 1.39 and 2.5 percent, increase over the figures of corresponding period of 2019-20. USDA says, the forecasted increase is based on an expected marginal increase in yarn and fabric demand in the New Year as the local RMG sector recovers from the negative economic impact of Covid-19.

In 2019-20 marketing year, yarn and fabric production forecasts have been revised down to 720,000 MT and 4.0 billion meters, which represent an 11 and 17 percent, decrease from 2018-19 figures, respectively. This decrease in production is the result of Covid-19 mitigation efforts and depressed demand as the global economy slows.

The USDA report says, in 2020-21 marketing year, the consumption of raw cotton is expected to rebound to 7.2 million bales, assuming that demand for garments will start to return to pre-Covid-19 levels. Raw cotton consumption levels in current marketing year are estimated lower at 6.9 million bales due to reduced RMG consumption in the world market as an impact of COVID-19.

Similarly, in coming marketing year, yarn and fabric consumption is expected to increase by approximately 5.5 percent to 0.95 million MT (MMT) and 3.33 percent to 6.2 billion meters based on an increase in demand as retail stores and shopping outlets reopen.