Turkish cotton intake to hit 10-year high

Consumption of Turkish cotton is expected to hit a 10-year high next year as the country’s cotton industry invests in new technology. Turkish mills have been investing in new machinery and technology to increase quality and lower costs in order to get ahead in the very competitive international textile trade. Thanks to increased sales in Europe, as well as thawing of relations with Russia, the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) bureau in Ankara sees exports of Turkish textile rising.

Turkish domestic cotton consumption is expected to rise to 6.89 million bales in this fiscal (2016-17), This sees a climb of 1,15,000 bales from the previous session. This is also 2,85,000 bales above the USDA’s official 2016017 forecast.

On the imports side, imports from the US will fall due to anti-dumping legislation. Some time ago, after a lengthy anti-dumping investigation, the Government of Turkey had announced three per cent anti-dumping duty on the US cotton imports starting from April 2016. But overall, the US will remain the top seller to Turkey.