An eight-member Australian cotton delegation has just completed a week-long visit to India. The delegation, representing the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) met with spinning mills and textile manufacturers from the north of India, through to central and southern India, hosting seminars in Ludhiana, Mumbai and Coimbatore.
The delegation visited India to bolster opportunities for exporting high quality Australian cotton to India. India has been a consistent purchaser of our cotton year-on-year, but last year’s monsoonal conditions and the resulting smaller Indian crop provided an opportunity for increased usage of Australian cotton by Indian mills.
Australian cotton was well received by Indian mills and appreciated for its superior quality characteristics, consistent quality and zero contamination. Key deliverables shared with Indian spinners were that Australian cotton is contamination-free; delivered to India within 30 days of leaving Australia and that Australia can offer quality cottons ranging from Strict Middling 1-1/4” with premium micronaire through to Strict Middling 1-5/32” at a competitive price and importantly, Australian cotton is readily available to Indian mills for June-August spinning requirements to supplement domestic shortages.
ACSA was joined by Cotton Australia’s Vice Chairman Hamish McIntyre and CSIRO Manufacturing Flagship Principal Research Scientist Dr Stuart Gordon. Both played pivotal roles in telling the Australian cotton story with Hamish McIntyre providing his own story of cotton growing in Australia and Stuart Gordon focused on our industry’s investment into breeding better varieties, agronomic practices and CSIRO Manufacturing’s research into improved spinning and dyeing ability of Australian cotton.
Underpinning the Australian cotton story was Australia’s whole-of-industry commitment to continue to improve on every area of production with best management practices applied to the entire supply chain, from cotton growing to ginning and classing, right through to export.
Mr Udayan Thakkar, vice president of the Cotton Association of India, in welcoming delegates to the seminars, stated the landmark trip was welcomed by the Indian spinning community.
“We really did have a good experience spinning Australian cotton, the realisation was improved by 5pc and it worked extremely well for 40’ count yarns,” he added.
“Until a few years ago, only a handful of Indian spinners had consumed Australian cotton. Last season we saw a large number of Indian spinners using Australian cotton.
“They were apprehensive about high neps and high SFI but their worries were allayed by the high quality in terms of grade, staple and strength that is not found in other growths.”
Mr Thakkar shared with the audience his experience of attending the 2016 Australian Cotton Conference and his knowledge of our industry – citing that the innovation and research undertaken in Australia.
