my country’s imports of Indian cotton still have growth potential

Although India’s cotton sowing in 2014/2015 was delayed due to late monsoon rains, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) said that due to weather factors prompting farmers to abandon soybean and peanut crops, India’s cotton production in the new year is expected to climb to A record high, up nearly 2.6% to 40 million bales. Experts from the U.S. Department of Agriculture also believe that India is likely to surpass China to become the world’s largest cotton growing country in the new year.
In recent years, the share of U.S. cotton in the Chinese market has shrunk, while the share of Indian cotton has increased, and the status of Indian cotton has become increasingly important. Badris Trading Co., Ltd. is one of the world’s largest professional suppliers of Indian cotton. It is understood that in addition to supplying cotton to domestic spinning mills in India, Badris can export more than 600,000 tons of cotton to China every year, accounting for about 50% of China’s imported Indian cotton. Recently, reporters interviewed Mr. Maita, chairman of Badrith Trading Co., Ltd., and Ms. Zhang Jiyun, general manager of Badrith Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and asked them to analyze the situation of Indian cotton.
Reporter: In the recent period, international cotton prices have continued to fall. While international cotton prices are falling, relevant forecasts believe that India’s cotton output may continue to grow in the new year. As the world’s largest professional supplier of Indian cotton, what do you think the price of Indian cotton will be like in the future?
Maita: Last year, India’s cotton output reached 6.6 million tons. We believe that India’s cotton output may reach 6.7 million tons in the new year. With the cotton harvest still two months away, there is still uncertainty.
China’s imported yarn is not subject to government quota controls, which has led to a large increase in cotton yarn exports from India to China, thereby promoting India’s domestic consumption demand for cotton. Although international cotton prices are currently at a low level, Indian cotton prices are relatively strong due to India’s growing domestic cotton consumption demand. Cotton prices in India are expected to remain stable in the future and may rise slightly.
At present, the price of cotton in India mainly changes according to the price of international cotton market, but the price of cotton in India’s domestic market is becoming one of the factors that influence the international cotton price, and the international market will gradually refer to the price of Indian cotton in the future.
Reporter: What do you think of the development prospects of Indian cotton in the Chinese market?
Maita: In recent years, Indian cotton has become increasingly popular in China due to its low competitive price and excellent quality. The import volume has also increased year by year, thus partially replacing imported cotton from other countries.
The emergence of Indian cotton has provided Chinese cotton textile companies with more choices for international procurement. Low prices have enabled Chinese cotton textile companies to reduce costs and improve the international market competitiveness of Chinese cotton textiles. After a large amount of low-priced Indian cotton entered China, after several years of running-in, Chinese spinning mills gradually understood the quality and characteristics of Indian cotton and mastered its use methods. The advantage of Indian cotton’s strong spinnability was highlighted. At present, Indian cotton accounts for 1/3 of China’s cotton imports, and its inherent quality is accepted by most of China’s textile factories. I think China’s imports of Indian cotton will continue to grow.
Reporter: What do you think are the main advantages of Indian cotton?
Maita: First of all, the shipping time for Indian cotton to China is relatively short, which shortens the procurement cycle accordingly. As long as the shipment can be shipped on time, it only takes 15 to 25 days for Indian cotton to arrive in China.
Secondly, the quality of Indian cotton has been continuously improving in recent years. India is committed to introducing good cotton varieties, and now the proportion of high-quality cotton varieties reaches more than 90%. This has continuously improved the efficiency of cotton planting in India, and the yield of Indian cotton is also increasing rapidly. India’s cotton planting area has also maintained steady growth.
Reporter: According to reports from spinning companies, the quality of Indian cotton varies greatly. As the world’s largest professional supplier of Indian cotton, how does Badris solve this problem?
Zhang Jiyun: Badris Trading Co., Ltd. has its own 12 cotton processing plants and cotton planting bases in the Indian states of Gujarat and Maharat, and has 5 cotton bonded warehouses at the MUNDRA terminal. We have many fixed partners in India to ensure that we can provide stable and high-quality cotton. In order to ensure cotton quality, we carefully control the cotton picking process and attach great importance to quality in the ginning process. At present, half of the cotton we provide is ginning by ourselves. We strictly monitor the quality of cotton produced by other cooperating ginning factory partners to provide users with cotton with consistent quality standards.
Badris Company also has a standardized management mechanism, a complete quality control system and a professional technical team. It has its own cotton testing office at the National Cotton Testing and Research Center in the Cotton Green Building of the East India Cotton Association in Mumbai, India. Every batch of cotton produced must be tested to ensure the quality of the supply. The company has strong capabilities to supply a large number of Indian cotton of different specifications to Chinese users. Even in seasons when cotton supply is tight, sufficient cotton resources and efficient shipping capabilities can be guaranteed.
Since the launch of cotton trade in China, the company has strictly abided by the terms of China Textile and the China Cotton Association, provided honest services and provided high-quality Indian cotton. Since entering the Chinese market in 2004, Badris has received the support and trust of Chinese customers and has developed rapidly.
�� Some time ago, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a notice on the technical requirements for imported cotton packaging, requiring further improvement of the packaging level of imported cotton to ensure the quality of imported cotton. Badris attaches great importance to this and actively improves the quality of cotton packaging.
Reporter: Do you have any suggestions on how to make good use of Indian cotton?
Zhang Jiyun: Indian cotton has good spinnability. 90% of the cotton in India is 28mm~30mm in length. It mainly uses double top roller gins, so the yarn produced has fewer neps. In addition, some cottons have low micronaire value and long length, which are more suitable for producing knitting yarn.
As far as I know, many of our customers use Indian cotton, Xinjiang cotton, mainland cotton, etc. in certain proportions in production to spin high-quality yarn. We will also provide Indian cotton of different specifications according to customers’ production needs.