Campaigning for Cotton
March 16, 2010 The global and U.S. cotton industry’s profitability in the future relies on consumer demand for cotton products. Without a strong demand side of the equation, cotton cannot compete with food and biofuels for acreage, and U.S. prices cannot rise above a level that provides market returns to producers.
When we celebrated 2009 as the International Year of Natural Fiber, the U.S. played a leading role in bringing recognition to cotton and all natural fibers. As we move into 2010 and beyond, we must not take our eye off the ball. We will continue to engage the global consumer with messages that highlight the natural, renewable and biodegradable benefits of our product. Along with Cotton Incorporated and the broad U.S. cotton industry, Cotton Council International (CCI) will persist in our message of our industry’s leading efforts in all aspects of sustainability throughout the cotton supply chain — from growing the fiber, through processing and all the way to the retail shelf. Cotton’s competition is clearly synthetic fibers and their consumer products.
As a natural product, cotton is in a favorable position in reality and in consumer perception. According to our extensive consumer research, consumers globally rate cotton above other natural fibers and far better than any of the synthetic fibers in being environmentally benign. That is a great position from which to reinforce our consumer messages of natural and renewable — the product of sun, soil and seed.
While the consumer will ultimately determine cotton’s demand and its competitiveness vis-à-vis synthetics, CCI cannot forget the important role that manufacturers, brands and retailers play in determining the message presented to consumers. During 2009, CCI and Cotton Incorporated conducted sustainability conferences for Asian, European and American companies spanning the cotton textile supply chain. We believe that, when presented with the facts and the appropriate arguments, U.S. and international brands will welcome U.S. cotton’s leading efforts in sustainability and social responsibility.
In a related innovative effort, CCI will expand what we are calling “Cotton Revolutions” in 2010. This effort, partially funded under the Cotton Foundation’s Vision 21 initiative, expands upon a global strategic thinking focus started in 2008. In 2010, Cotton Revolutions will become a Web-enabled process that draws on global leaders throughout the cotton textile supply chain to address four overarching topics affecting the future of our industry during the coming decades: resource management and environmental stewardship, technical innovation, economic integration, and governance.
Developing Markets
As another aspect of Vision 21, CCI, Cotton Incorporated and the National Cotton Council are collaborating on in-depth research of cotton demand at retail in China and India. These two developing markets, home to nearly 2.5 billion consumers, will likely drive underlying global demand for cotton in the future. Expanded promotion of cotton tailored to the consumer is particularly important in these countries, and the cotton industries of India and China seem to agree. In a major positive development, both countries announced in 2009 that they would begin consumer promotion of cotton products within their domestic markets. These home-grounded promotion efforts could cause a major boost in underlying global cotton demand, and we plan to use our consumer research to help guide and measure impact of such efforts on demand growth.
With all this emphasis on building consumer demand, CCI does not plan to forget the U.S. trade in 2010. We will continue to host visiting delegations to tour the U.S. Cotton Belt. We will continue to focus on opportunities within our hemisphere through the COTTON USA Sourcing Program that targets exports of U.S. cotton fiber, yarn and fabric to Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean. And 2010 will see the sixth of our flagship Sourcing USA Summits. This year’s Summit is scheduled for November 9-11 in California with details of the venue and invitations to be posted in early 2010.
With a full calendar of events for 2010, whether through strategic thinking, reliable information or consumer promotion, CCI’s COTTON USA program will continue to use innovative approaches to instill a resilient preference for U.S. cotton throughout the supply chain and to strengthen cotton’s position as a perennial consumer favorite.
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
