In an exclusive interview with Dhaka Tribune’s Saddam Hossain, Júlio Cézar Busato, chairman of the Brazilian Association of Cotton Growers (ABRAPA), speaks about Brazil’s intention to increase their cotton export to Bangladesh
What makes Brazil’s cotton superior?
As of now, Brazil is the second-largest exporter in the market and the fourth-largest cotton producer globally. Undergoing the industry-standard laboratory HVI testing by partnering laboratories such as the Brazilian Reference Center for Cotton Testing (CBRA), the Brazilian cotton fibre is highly traceable, contamination-free, and of high quality.
More importantly, as the global fashion industry is pushing towards using recycled garments and responsibly sourced materials to reduce its carbon footprint, Brazil is committed to promoting cotton sustainability and environmental accountability, with 85% of Brazilian cotton certified by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) and Responsible Brazilian Cotton Programme (ABR).
Besides ensuring Brazilian cotton adheres to the international standards and regulations, many of Brazil’s cotton farms have adopted state-of-the-art technologies and the latest agriculture practices to ensure high crop yields and multiple harvests all year round to cater to global cotton export demands.
For example, cotton crops undergo fully automated harvesting and utilize agricultural drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to survey the area, and monitor for diseases and are also used to apply chemical and biological products over agricultural fields.
With these practices in place, merchants and buyers can have ease of mind while purchasing Brazilian cotton, with each fibre made from sustainable growing systems and cotton farming practices.
What is Brazilian cotton’s market share in South Asia, especially Bangladesh?
Our key Asian markets are China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia. We noticed that based on our 2020/2021 season, both China and Vietnam were our largest cotton importers with market shares of 32% and 16% respectively.
Bangladesh reported a market share of 13%, marking them as the third-largest importer of Brazilian cotton.
Until May 2022, we have supplied Bangladesh with 184,000 tons of cotton.
While Bangladesh is one of our key focus markets, we also have a strong presence in Pakistan, Turkey and Indonesia, each having a market share of 13%, 11% and 8% respectively.
Through our international market development program–Cotton Brazil, we aim to raise awareness for Brazilian cotton amongst Asian garment makers, spinners, weavers and merchants which will help us expand to other countries such as South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.
Do you have any official distributors or offices in Bangladesh?
To strengthen our network in Asia and forge closer relationships with our clients, Cotton Brazil has opened an administrative office in Singapore acting as a logistics hub from where our team can easily address textile industries in our main markets.
Brazilian cotton is sold and distributed by partner trading companies that specialize in delivering cotton to Bangladesh and other countries in Asia.
Who is the biggest buyer of Brazil’s cotton?
China is the biggest buyer of Brazilian cotton in terms of volume with 721,000 tons of cotton during the 2020/2021 season followed by Vietnam, Turkey and Pakistan. Bangladesh is the fifth-largest importer of Brazilian cotton, with a volume of 270,000 tonnes during the 2020/2021 season.
As of May 2022, 184,000 tons have been imported so far.
What are the opportunities in Bangladesh and how big is this market?
Brazil has shipped 1.6 million tons from the period of August 2021 to May 2022, generating a revenue of $3,016 billion. The country is projecting the total shipments to be 1.90 million tons for the next cycle.
Currently, Bangladesh accounts for 14% of Brazilian cotton exports. During our mission we visited spinning mills and garment manufacturers and noticed that the country’s textile industry is booming – with expansion plans for 2.5 million spindles, building new plants, and verticalising from spinning to weaving, knitting and garment.
From this, the textile industry of Bangladesh will demand increased volumes of cotton – and Brazil is looking forward to providing sustainable, high-quality cotton to fulfill that demand.
What was the goal of the Cotton Brazil Outlook 2022 initiative?
Our key objective is to promote the use of natural fibers, especially cotton, across different countries. Holding events such as our ‘Sellers Mission’ enable us to forge stronger partnerships with companies across the industry value chain, from our local merchants and traders to trade and textile associations.
As the borders lifted and travel resumed, we wanted to organize events and local site visits to connect with our key partners and share the developments and growth of the Cotton Brazil project.
As chairman, how are you maintaining the quality standard of cotton?
The quality of Brazilian cotton starts in the field. From the choice of seeds to the genetic breeding technologies, weather conditions, careful planting and field-management practices, mechanical harvesting, and ginning process – everything needs to come together to create high-quality fibres.
For two decades, ABRAPA and its state associates invested in research and development, along with universities and research Institutes, to improve the quality of Brazilian cotton according to the global industries’ demands.
However, we understand that there’s still room for improvement and Brazilian cotton growers will continue to try to meet buyers’ quality requirements.
Moreover, this quality is measured by the SBRHVI (Standard Brazil HVI), the Brazilian Cotton Quality Control program, created in 2016. The program standardizes the instrumental classification of cotton by training, guiding, and monitoring a network of 11 classing labs located in the main growing regions and supervised by the Brazilian Cotton Testing Reference Center – a central lab for quality control.
100% of bales are HVI-tested, and the data reliability grows each season, reaching 97% on the 2021/2022 cycle.
The SBRHVI provides buyers with HVI classification data for more than 80% of Brazilian cotton production on a bale-by-bale basis.
Do you have any program that helps the farmers to grow quality cotton? Are you planning to run similar projects here?
ABRAPA and the state associates work closely together with cotton growers, universities, and institutes, and invest in research and development to improve the quality of Brazilian cotton based on current global demands. As mentioned earlier, the SBRHVI program measures and standardizes the instrumental classification of cotton with increasing reliability.
ABRAPA’s quality and sustainability efforts are applied to Brazilian cotton fields, taking into account their specific conditions such as climate, soil, etc. Furthermore, Brazilian cotton is traceable, helping ensure reliable and transparent information about the origin of Bangladesh’s textile sector.
Cotton yield requires high usage of water, how is Brazil addressing sustainability issues regarding that?
Brazil produces 42% of the world’s Better Cotton, using water-efficient methods and 84% of our national production is licensed with the best sustainability practices.
As we depend on natural farming methods, climate change is also a concern for us. We encourage Brazilian farmers to adopt sustainable agriculture practices. For example, 92% of our cotton farms are non-irrigated and the cotton grows from rainwater.
Moreover, all farms carry out yearly monitoring of water quality, to ensure the non-contamination of basins and reservoirs.
In addition to non-irrigation, we are adopting crop rotation practices and diversifying our cropping systems, to improve the availability of soil nutrients, increase water infiltration, and reduce water pollution.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com/