The rising price of man-made fibers will make cotton more attractive to the apparel industry and boost global cotton consumption by 3 percent this market year, said the International Cotton Advisory Committee. The intergovernmental body said a softening of cotton prices, forecast to average 74 cents a pound this year compared with 83 cents in 2016/17, will help make cotton a cost-competitive textile.
In a monthly summary, the ICAC estimated that cotton consumption would reach 25.22 million tonnes in 2017/18, an increase of 700,000 tonnes from the previous season. China, which runs one-third of the world’s cotton through its mills, would hold steady at 8.1 million tonnes of consumption. The No. 2 cotton miller, India, is forecast to increase usage by 3 percent, and consumption by No. 3 Pakistan would rise by 4 percent. The largest increase among the major consumers would be 11 percent, in Vietnam. That country ranks sixth in the world and accounts for 5 percent of global cotton consumption.
Along with the boom in cotton consumption, the ICAC expects a 2017/18 crop of 25.43 million tonnes, which would be much bigger than the preceding year’s harvest of 22.99 million tonnes. Low market prices discouraged plantings in 2015/16. Higher prices in 2016/17 then spurred an expansion in production.