Ivory Coast's cotton production to surge, exports to dip: TexPro

The country’s cotton production in MY 2019-20 was 0.99 million 480 lb bales, which increased by 2.02 per cent to reach 1.01 million 480 lb bales in MY 2020-21 while COVID-19 was spreading across the world. The increase in cotton production of Ivory Coast was due to the rising number of cotton producers in the country.

The production is expected to rise by 8.91 per cent to reach 1.10 million 480 lb bales in MY 2021-22. Similarly, the total cotton producers in the country are expected to increase to 1,41,534 in MY 2021-22 from 1,32,525 in MY 2020-21 at 6.80 per cent, according to Fibre2Fashion’s market analysis tool TexPro.

On the other hand, Ivory Coast’s cotton exports were 0.64 million 480 lb bales in MY 2019-20 and showed a tremendous growth of 87.50 per cent to reach 1.20 million 480 lb bales in MY 2020-21. However, the country’s cotton exports are expected to decline by 4.17 per cent to 1.15 million 480 lb bales in MY 2021-22.

Higher expectation of the cotton production in MY 2021-22 is attributed to the favourable global market situation and attractive national support pricing. The yield in the country is expected to increase due to effective seed multiplication and distribution plan at the national level. Higher-quality varieties developed by the national agricultural research agency may also contribute to productivity gains and quality improvements.

Although the cotton production expectations are higher, exports are expected to drop slightly as the production level still needs to improve to satisfy the potentially rising overseas demand of cotton across the world.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KD)