Malawian, Zimbabwean ginners to sell US$ 2 million of cotton to Bangladeshi spinners

Ginners in Malawi and Zimbabwe are set to sell 1,500 tons of cotton – worth US$ 2 million – to Bangladeshi spinners after tapping business opportunities facilitated by the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Over 70 spinners and agents met the ginners in a seminar co-organized by the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and the Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA), held on 10 August in Dhaka. The session was designed to improve the visibility of East and Southern Africa cotton among Bangladeshi spinners.

The spinners gave positive feedback on the cotton, and the ginners gained market insight and negotiated future contracts. Two contracts of 500 tons of Malawian cotton and 1,000 tons of Zimbabwean cotton were agreed upon for a combined worth of over US$ 2 million.

As Bangladesh is the second-largest cotton importing country in the world, the seminar attracted large interest among Bangladeshi spinners, cotton agents and brokers, as well as Tanzanian ginners working in Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Going forward, ginners will need to target their marketing strategy towards spinners interested in particular types of cotton. For instance, Tanzanian cotton’s staple length of 1 1/8” or shorter would ideally target yarn manufacturers that weave rather than manufacturers that specialize in knitting.

The BTMA and the BCA have agreed to host new visits of West and Central African cotton companies, to assist them in better understanding market requirements.
The cotton agent Dhaka Cotton, which imports almost 30% of all cotton into Bangladesh, agreed to organize factory visits with Norman and Badsha, the two largest mills in the country.

These collaborative efforts are aimed at creating sustainable services to improve the long-term competitiveness and marketability of African cotton in international markets.

This latest seminar was a follow-up visit to an initial mission in 2013 during which sales contracts were negotiated and partnerships were forged. Through the series of meetings, ties between the Bangladeshi market and selected spinners have been strengthened.

ITC’s role is to promote African cotton and improve its standing in target markets by increasing its competitiveness and viability, in part by establishing feedback channels with cotton buyers to support mutually beneficial relationships.

This project is part of ITC’s support programme for the coordination of the Action Framework of the European Union-Africa Partnership on Cotton, funded by the European Union.