Cotton traders view China as a lucrative market for exports

Mumbai, August 5 (UNI) Being the biggest cotton consuming country in the world, China has emerged as a major destination for the cotton traders in the country. Even though being way behind the world's leading exporter, the US, India is the second largest supplier of cotton to China. While US's share of exports to China is almost 45 per cent, India is a distant second with a share of only 12 per cent.

The president of East India Cotton Association (EICA), KF Jhunjhunwala, feels that despite being the largest in the world, China's cotton production has been inadequate to match the substantial increase in domestic cotton mill use. As the gap between production and consumption in China is not expected to decrease during the current fiscal, Chinese imports are expected to remain the same record level this year too. And this is where Indian traders can export their products to bridge the gap, said EICA director, Dhiren N Seth. Even if China increases it's cotton production by five per cent during the current fiscal, as it is estimated, it will not help the country meet her consumption requirements which may cross 10.49 million tons by the year-end, he added.

Mr Jhunjhunwala has called for a strong organisational planning and strategy before drawing up a road-map for large-scale exports to China. This was imperative in view of macro-economic changes and regulatory mechanism adopted by the Chinese authorities, he cautioned.

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