Cotton import grows despite pandemic

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Bangladesh's cotton imports grew by about 9 % to 75 lakh bales in the 2019-20 marketing year (MY) despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, according to info from america Section of Agriculture (USDA).

The cotton advertising year commences in August and ends in July and one bale equals to 480 pounds.

The high demand for cotton through the initially half of the entire year combined with country's success in combating Covid-19 has allowed the garment sector to keep functions despite a few short-term disruptions.

US cotton exports to Bangladesh in MY2019-20 reached 1.06 lakh bales, up 28.9 per cent from MY2018-19. The US cotton market show was approximately 14 per cent in MY2019-20, which is second to India's 23 % market share.

For MY2020-21, cotton imports will slightly lower to 71 lakh bales given the uncertainty in global demand and relatively low import in the first months of the entire year, the report said.

"Cotton imports continued possibly amid the ongoing crisis because so many consignments were signed earlier but imported afterwards," explained Monsoor Ahmed, secretary to the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).

Sales in the primary textile sector were disrupted through the Covid-19 outbreak found in April-May however when the market segments reopened, the sales started to peak up again.

This is especially the case for the weavers and spinners that serve local markets, he added.

The ongoing pandemic has disrupted Bangladesh's textile and apparel industry, producing a sharp decline in the sector's exports to main markets, like the US and EU.  Preliminary data from the Bangladesh Export Promotion Bureau implies that the export value of apparel in the first of all 10 months of 2020 dropped 19 % year-on-time to $22.4 billion.

However, this decline was less than the forecast made by the industry experts in May 2020 as Bangladesh's success in combating Covid-19 has allowed companies to maintain businesses despite a few short-term disruptions.

The decline in apparel exports is because a depressed global demand, increased competition from Vietnam and heightened production and safety standards in Bangladesh's garment industry.

The sector's export value dropped 85 % in April and 62 per cent in May year-on-year in 2020.

Bangladesh's yarn production is recovering following an extended amount of market disruption aswell.

According to the Trade Data Screen (TDM), the value of Bangladesh's cotton yarn exports in the initial 10 months of 2020 dropped 27 % year-on-year to $11.3 million.

With Bangladesh's domestic yarn demand rebounding in the last 3 months, the neighborhood spinning industry expects cotton yarn development will continue steadily to see positive growth consequently of the increased demand for knitwear exports.

Bangladesh's yarn exports fell 27 per cent in 2020, the article said, adding that the price tag on yarn possesses increased substantially above the August to October timeframe as a result of an uptick found in garment demand before the upcoming holiday season in the EU and US.

Through the first nine months of 2020, the value of cotton yarn imports was above 12 per cent at $692 million in comparison to $617 million in 2019.

China alone features exported above $148 million worthy of of cotton yarn to Bangladesh days gone by calendar year and above $225 million in 2019.

In a written report, the BTMA explained there were a lot more than 433 spinning mills working in Bangladesh in 2019 with a combined development capacity of 2.9 million tonnes of yarn per year.

Regardless of the large domestic spinning capacity, Bangladesh imported more than $850 million worth of cotton yarn in 2019.

Bangladesh has import obligations of 5 % for man-made fibre, 25 per cent for fabric, and 10 % for yarn.

While seemingly high, export-oriented garment factories can import yarn and fabric under a duty down side incentive, which reimburses all customs duties paid on imported yarn and fabric, except taxes including the VAT and advanced tax.

The draw back incentive programme permits Bangladesh to choose large imports of cotton yarn and fabric from India and China.

Prior forecasts showed that the country's cotton consumption would drop sharply on the second half of MY2019-20 and continue steadily to decline on MY2020-21 because of the Covid-19 fallout.

On the other hand, Bangladesh's cotton consumption, reflected by cotton imports and domestic demand for cotton yarn, has remained strong because of Asia's overall achievements in combating Covid-19.

Domestic consumption of apparel and textile products has been mildly impacted by the cancellation of large events like Pahela Baishakh, the initial day of Bangla brand-new year, and the Eid festivals that often promote clothing sales.

But overall, the negative impact of Covid-19 has been lower than forecast, the statement said.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net

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