The first week of March saw a delegation from the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) visit Turkey and Bangladesh to promote Australian cotton exports. Marking their first ever first to Turkey ACSA travelled to Maras, Gaziantep, Adana and Istanbul to conduct a series of seminars that provided information about the cotton industry in Australia.

The first week of March saw a delegation from the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) visit Turkey and Bangladesh to promote Australian cotton exports. Marking their first ever first to Turkey ACSA travelled to Maras, Gaziantep, Adana and Istanbul to conduct a series of seminars that provided information about the cotton industry in Australia.

Turkey has recently emerged as a significant destination for cotton from Australia and in the past twelve months imports have reached approximately 75,000 tons and represent one of the major imported qualities to that market. Cliff White, Chairman of the Association explained that the purpose of the visit was to develop and explore market opportunities in the very important in Turkish market. Turkey is well known in the international cotton trade and although imports from Australia have been variable it is felt that the attention from Turkish buyers has begun to focus on Australian cotton which is one of the highest quality upland cottons in the world.

“Our visit was extremely successful and the meetings have helped all involved in the Turkish market to get a better understanding of Australian cotton” Mr White said. The Australian delegation is positive that while this is the first visit by a cotton delegation from Australia it will definitely not be the last.

Whereas the visit to Turkey was about developing a market in Bangladesh it was more about building on the reputation Australia already has in the country. The seminar in Dhaka was the third that ACSA has held and the level of awareness from the buyers is highlighted by the fact that Bangladesh is now the second largest destination for Australian cotton. This should not be all that surprising as Bangladesh is currently the worlds largest cotton importer, at least until we see a change of policy from China. Australian cotton exports to Bangladesh have reached 160,000mt and promotional visits such as this can only help to secure a larger market share.

Bangladeshi spinners have shown increased interest in Australian cotton commented Mr White and that interest looks like being followed up with a number of spinning mill executives expected to attend the Australian Cotton Conference on the Gold Coast in August.

About the Australian Cotton Shippers Association. ACSA’s primary role is to promote and enhance the export of Australia cotton and we do that in a number of ways but our most effective action is to visit markets as a group and generically promote Australian cotton. The association represents the majority of cotton exporters based in Australia