The global organic cotton market with three consecutive years of production decline from 2012 to 2014 has witnessed ten percent rise in production largely due to increased market demand as well as more collaborations between farmers and the textile supply chain, according to Textile Exchange’s annual report.

As per survey report, retailers C&A, H&M and Tchibo are the industry leaders in organic cotton targets and commitment, these being the top three users of organic cotton by volume. “The total amount of organic cotton used by the top ten brands has grown by 25 percent since 2014 – an increase of 39,950 million tonnes of fibre.

The US organization surveyed 54 companies from across Europe, the USA, the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, with 81 percent of these apparel brands and 19 percent homeware and footwear companies.

Based on anecdotal evidence and farmer forecasts, TE predicts that the coming year will see further growth by around 15-20 percent. To achieve this, however, “significant improvements” need to be made in the organic cotton market.

Of the total global organic fibre production, 96.7 percent is produced in the top five organic cotton-producing countries. This indicates a need to spread out production and supply chains to more countries to extend the reach of organic cotton.

Non-GMO seed supply, however, is the leading barrier to future growth of the organic cotton market.