TEXAS − Global organic cotton production rose by 20% in 2009 tipping the scales at 175,113 metric tons (802,599 bales) grown on 625,000 acres (253,000 hectares), according to a new report from Organic Exchange (OE).
“Organic cotton weathered the global economic storm during the 2008/09 farming season, albeit with challenges”, said the OE adding that “organic cotton now represents 0.76% of global cotton production.”
The fourth annual Organic Exchange Farm and Fiber Report 2009, which was exclusively previewed in the February issue of Ecotextile News magazine, shows that India, Turkey and Syria are the leading organic cotton producers out of the 22 countries and 220,000 farmers that grow organic cotton worldwide.
The top ten organic cotton producer countries in order of rank were India,Turkey, Syria, Tanzania, China, United States, Uganda, Peru, Egypt and Burkina Faso.
Not all is rosy, however. Despite major market players sticking to their commitments to use organic cotton in their apparel and home textile products, there simply wasn’t the market for products (organic or conventional) in general, given the global economic downturn. In addition, a number of farmers had planted vast acreage of organic cotton on speculation and in response to what had appeared to be a healthy, burgeoning marketplace. As a result, unsold stocks which represent between 17 and 22% of production (some 30,000 to 35,000 tons (137,789 to 160,754 bales) of organic cotton has yet to find buyers.
“2008-09 was a year of challenges for the organic cotton sector, but also one that highlights the need to improve recordkeeping, forecasting, pricing, and communication systems and gain more firm commitments and contracts,” noted Simon Ferrigno, OE Organic Exchange Farm Development Team manager and lead author of the report.
LaRhea Pepper, OE senior director agrees. “While the 2008-09 season was very challenging for organic cotton farmers, the marketplace is recovering and there are indications that some of the surplus organic cotton is being utilised. “Indeed,” she continued, “it has been reaffirming to see that leading brands and retailers have retained their commitments to use to organic and sustainable fibres so as to bring about changes in agriculture. In many cases, they are actually stepping up their commitment to organic cotton in order to utilise the stocks and keep organic land in production.”
According to the Organic Exchange Organic Cotton Market Report 2009, global retail sales of organic cotton and home textile products topped US$3.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2008. Data from the 2009 market will be available soon.
Organic Exchange Farm and Fiber Report 2009 not only provides data on land under organic cotton, quantities, and yields of organic cotton produced, but also detailed analysis of the challenges and barriers to this successful industry, examples of how the sector is responding, and a special overview of three major production regions: India, Latin America and Africa. In addition, it provides an in-depth overview of the conventional cotton market.