United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) announces Poland Cotton & Products Annual Update 2006:
Report Highlights: The situation in the Polish cotton industry deteriorated considerably in 2005 reflecting a significant decrease in imports and consumption of cotton compared with 2004.
The cotton situation has dramatically deteriorated from January 1, 2005, when import restrictions for Chinese textile products and shoes were lifted as a result of WTO negotiations.
According to 2005 statistical data, Polish treadmills, weaving factories and knitting shops received fewer orders as a result, their production was much lower than in the previous year.
This situation was due to the increased imports of cotton products from China (sometime several hundreds percent higher) and up to 20 percent lower prices for these products.
- Import and consumption of cotton decreased by 33.3 percent in 2005 compared with 2004.
- Production of cotton thread decreased by an average of 30 percent in 2005 compared with 2004.
- Total production of cotton fabrics was 121.75 million square meters in 2005 (22 percent decrease compared with 155.6 million square meters in 2004).
The varieties from other regions of the world represent only 16 percent of total imported cotton. Uzbekistan is still the number one exporter of cotton to Poland; however, its market share continues to decline annually (in 1998 – 76.6 percent; in 2004 – 47.7 percent; in 2005 – 40.3 percent). Cottons from Tajikistan and Kazakhstan were also very popular and maintained their positions on the Polish market (20 percent and 15 percent, respectively).
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