Australian cotton growers and exporters during a seminar organized by Australian Cotton Shippers’ Association in Ludhiana urged Indian traders and industry owners to buy the Austrialian cotton. Stuart Gordon, research scientist from Advanced Fibres and Industrial Chemistry Group, Australia, said that the Australian cotton had high fibre strength, and was dyeable and spinnable, making it better than cotton from other parts of the world.

He further added that the uniformity and consistency of the Australian cotton was more because most of it was grown by large growers, using one or two seed varieties, which leads to consistent and uniform quality.

Members of the association said that the Australian cotton consumption was the highest in India last year — around 22 percent of it was consumed in India due to various factors. Less cotton crop harvest in India last year was one of the major reasons for the consumption of the Australian cotton. Though cotton from Africa and US had relatively been consumed more in India in terms of imports, but Indian consumers were now well-versed with the good quality of the Australian cotton, they were expecting the demand to remain high this year also.

The demand for the Australian cotton had been more in the southern and north India, as compared to the rest of the country. They were expecting high demand in Punjab.

One of the senior officials from a city-based textile company said that the quality of Australian cotton was good last year, so they would use the Australian cotton this year as well. Moreover, demonetisation may lead to more cotton imports.

Mahesh C Thakker, an official from Perfect Cotton Company, Mumbai, said that demonetisation was going to be a major factor leading to increase in imports of cotton in India this year. Farmers in India had not been selling cotton after demonetisation. They had been demanding cash, which was still in shortage in the market, and millers and manufacturers were not getting adequate cotton. So they would depend on imported cotton.

Speaking about the international market scenario for cotton, Eimear McDonagh said that China, the biggest producer and consumer of cotton in the world, had reduced imports of cotton due to a change in the government policy there, so the exports of the Australian cotton to other countries such as India and Bangladash had increased.