ANKARA
Turkey became the top export destination for U.S. cotton after Chinese buyers have cut back on buying raw cotton according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data on December 27.
U.S. export sales data for week ending Dec. 19 showed, Turkish buyers have bought 83,400 bales of upland cotton, double that of China.
The sales reports indicated that since August 1, start of the 2013/14 crop marketing season, almost 1.72 million 480-lb bales of upland cotton have been bought by Turkish buyers, up more than 40 percent from the same period last year.
In the same period, Chinese buyers booked 1.42 million bales, less than 60 percent from last year.
China has been No.1 importer of U.S. cotton and Turkey is No.2 buyer after China in recent years. The United States is the world’s No. 1 exporter. Bangladesh, Thailand and Vietnam are major importing countries for U.S. cotton in Asia.
Turkey has imported 3.8 million 480-lb bales of upland cotton, its total consumption 6 million, in 2012-2013.
The largest producers of cotton, currently, are China and India, with annual production of about 36 million bales and 29 million bales, respectively; most of this production is consumed by their respective textile industries.
The world's No.1 exporter of raw cotton is the United States, with sales of 10.4 million bales. India and Australia and Uzbekistan follow US with 7.5 million bales, 4 million bales and 2.8 million bales respectively.
Turkey is fast becoming recognized as a fashion center and top clothing supplier. The country has over 35,000 textile and clothing companies and is the fourth largest supplier of clothing in the world and ranks among the top ten exporter in the textile industry.
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