Germany's raw cotton imports decline as textiles sector slides
15 Apr '06
3 min read
The German textile industry continues to close or relocate production facilities outside Germany due to strong competition from low production cost countries.
This also affects cotton spinning and weaving companies. Consequently, German raw cotton imports dropped by one percent to 80,876 MT in MY 2004/05.
The top five suppliers were Brazil, Mali, Uzbekistan, Chad, and Sudan.
The United States ranked ninth with 3,710 MT and a market share of 5 percent.
For climatic reasons there is no domestic raw cotton production in Germany.
The country, therefore, depends on imported cotton and cotton products for its textile and apparel industry.
Tough competition from low cost producing countries has forced Germany's textile and apparel industry to move production facilities to countries in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Cotton spinning and weaving companies have also followed this relocation trend, albeit with a certain time lag.
These factors have led to a decline in domestic use and an overall decrease in raw cotton imports. The profitability of the domestic textile sector is mostly limited to niche markets and technical uses.
In MY 2004/05, German imports of raw cotton totaled 80,876 MT, about 1,000 MT or 1.2 percent less than the previous season.
The top two suppliers of raw cotton to the German market in MY 2004/05 were Brazil and Mali, with 15 percent and 11 percent of the market share, respectively.
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