Central Asian countries increase processing of cotton fiber and decrease its export
Over the past few years, In the dynamics of the development of the cotton industry in Central Asia along with the overall growth of production, a steady decline in exports of cotton fiber with a shift in indicators in favor of domestic consumption of the textile industry is observed. This is indicated by the latest statistical report of the U.S. Department of agriculture on world agricultural demand and supply.
According to forecasts, in the cotton season 2017/2018, the total volume of cotton fiber production in six countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), included in the Central Asia group, will amount to 1.37 million tons.
The moderate decline in exports is registered against the backdrop of the diversion of cotton fiber from the commodity sector to the secondary sector, producing finished products. Thus, over the past two-three years, in general, fiber exports in Central Asia decreased by 1.5-2 times.
At the same time, on a regional scale, more than 50% or over 700 thousand tons of produced fiber is absorbed by domestic consumption. The volume of local processing in the CA countries in 2018 will increase by 1.5 times as compared with 2012.
According to the Turkmen statistics agency, in 2017 the country raised the production of cotton fibers by 16.5% comparing to 2016. At the same time, exports of fiber decreased by 34.5%, but the volume of sales of cotton fabrics abroad increased almost 11 times. During the last year's cotton-picking campaign, 1.05 million tons of raw cotton were harvested in the country.
Background:
The world economic community uses the concept of cotton season in its profile reports, which starts on August 1 and ends on July 31 of the next year, so the indication of two years is is used, for example, 2015/2016.
The primary processing for cotton at ginning factories produces cotton fiber, lint, linter, and cotton seed. The share of fiber in the total mass of raw material is about 1/3.
