Australia's cotton exports to China rebound, soar 8-fold in 2023

According to Fibre2Fashion's market insight tool TexPro, Australia's cotton shipment to China amounted to $619.978 million in 2023. With this trade figure, China was the second-largest buyer after Vietnam for Australian cotton. The country shipped cotton worth $2,841.646 million to the world in the last year. Therefore, China's share stands at 21.78 per cent of the total exports from Australia. The shipment to China increased by 760 per cent from $72.481 million in 2022.

Until 2021, China was the largest buyer of Australian cotton, with trade noted at $549.645 million out of Australia's total cotton exports of $1,408.168 million. China's share was more than one-third of Australia's cotton shipments. During 2019, Australia exported cotton worth $777.505 million to China, while its total cotton exports amounted to $1,090.777 million that year. China's share was over 75 per cent. Total cotton exports crashed to just $314.116 million in 2020, with the shipment to China valued at $171.134 million.

After the pandemic, China's share in Australia's cotton exports began to shrink. The shipment to China was recorded at $549.645 million in 2021, when Australia's total exports recovered to $1,408.168 million. China's share reduced to below 40 per cent, reaching 38.99 per cent, but it retained its rank as Australia's largest cotton buyer, as per TexPro.

However, strained diplomatic relations dented the trade, and cotton shipments to China were reduced to just $72.481 million in the following year, 2022, out of Australia's total exports of $2,953.692 million. China's share dropped to just 2.43 per cent, and its rank also plunged to 10th place. Last year, not only did the shipment to China improve, but also the rank, due to the return of normalcy in the bilateral trade between Australia and China.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)