Indian cotton has obvious price advantage among the international cotton in circulation. Despite of month-on-month decrease, the yearly growth moved up significantly in Feb, showing higher demand from international market to Indian cotton under the background of lower anticipated exports this season.
In Feb 2018, Indian cotton exports reached 183kt, down 13.3% from Jan, but up 45.2% year on year. Cotton imports were 17kt, up 37% year on year and 8.3% month on month. The import and export structures had no big change. Buying interests from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam continued to be buoyant, and the major import origins maintained the U.S. and Egypt.
1. Indian cotton export
Indian cotton exports were 183kt in Feb 2018, down 13.3% month on month, but up 45.2% year on year and the accumulative exports in 2017/18 (from Aug 2017 to Feb 2018) were 822kt, an increase of 6.6% year on year. In the first two months of 2018, exports totaled 394kt, up 7.2% year on year.
In Feb, Australian and Brazilian cotton has not been harvested, U.S. cotton has been oversold, Chinese cotton was rarely for export and Pakistani cotton was mainly sold in domestic market. Indian cotton was still on arrival period, and it was buoyant season for Indian cotton to export. In the meantime, ICE cotton futures market moved lower and then rebounded, and Indian cotton futures market mainly followed the trend of ICE cotton, but was not that fluctuated. In terms of unit price of cotton, Indian cotton’s price edge was very obvious.
2. Indian cotton export destinations
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Vietnam continued to be the major consumers of Indian cotton in Feb 2018, but the exports to Pakistan decreased much. Exports to Bangladesh reached 67kt, down 17% from Jan, that to Pakistan were 49kt, down 34.2% and that to Vietnam were 25kt, flat from Jan.
3. Cotton imports in India
In Feb 2018, cotton imports in India were 17kt, an upswing of 37% year on year and 8.3% month on month. From Aug 2017 to Feb 2018, imports totaled 182kt, down 46.1% year on year and in the first two months of 2018, imports amounted to 32kt, up 27.1% year on year.
Cotton imports have seen steady growth for four months, which is mainly pushed by the strong demand for quality cotton from Indian spinning mills.
In Feb 2018, the major cotton suppliers for India were U.S., Egypt and Mali. U.S. cotton remained the largest volumes, taking a share of 49.14% at 8.2kt. Egyptian cotton continued to the second largest import origins, but its proportion declined to 21.44%, with volumes of 3.6kt.
