COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® Seminar in India Shares Fiber Selection Insights

Cotton Council International (CCI) hosted a COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® seminar in Coimbatore, India, in December 2021, the first in-person event there since September 2019. More than 65 participants representing 25 mills—including 14 COTTON USA™ licensees— attended the event, funded in part by USDA’s Market Access Program (MAP). The mills attending the seminar have a cumulative annual cotton consumption of 3.3 million bales, of which more than 165,000 bales are U.S. cotton. A post-event survey showed that these mills are expected to buy an additional 230,000 bales of U.S. cotton valued at $112 million because of attending the seminar.

Two CCI technical consultants gave COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® presentations to the group regarding fiber selection insights from the COTTON USA MILL MASTERY™ courses. The first presentation included an introduction to the five COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® offerings, plus the importance of fiber selection, which included a live demo. Another seminar outlined the importance of bale management, which included optimization of cotton processing and choosing the right selection for the right application.

CCI next presented updates on U.S. cotton’s sustainability record, the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol® — the value proposition of the program and how the program’s verified trackable equivalency solution is providing a transparent supply chain in the textile business.

The leadership from the Indian and Sri Lankan textile industry also participated in a panel discussion to deliberate on what’s next for cotton in 2022. The panel consisted of leading mills and U.S. cotton merchants. Takeaways were:

• Indian mills are investing in additional spinning capacity in the coming 2 to 3
• The importance of collaboration in the textile supply
• Spinning mills have improved efficiencies during COVID while working
• Indian mills need to use tools like other South Asian counterparts to manage
• Data-driven programs like the S. Cotton Trust Protocol® will gain importance in the future.
• India will continue to drive cotton
• The perception and cost of stickiness and the High Volume Instrument (HVI) testing equipment for cotton stickiness.

Post-survey results showed that 94% of the attendees were satisfied with the COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® seminar, 94% were familiar with COTTON USA SOLUTIONS™ and 48% were very likely to use COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® services. Meanwhile, 94% of the attendees feel that U.S. cotton is better compared to cotton of other origins.