At ITMA ASIA 2025, Cotton Council International (CCI) reinforced its evolving role in the Indian and South Asian textile ecosystem—shifting from fibre promotion toward performance-driven mill support amid prolonged global market stress.
Represented by Joerg Bauersachs, Head of Technical Services, and Peush Narang, Program Representative for India and Sri Lanka, CCI showcased its COTTON USA SOLUTIONS® platform, which provides neutral, advisory-led services including mill diagnostics, process optimisation, and benchmarking—independent of sourcing volume commitments.
A focal point of engagement was the Mill Performance Index (MPI), a data-driven benchmarking framework allowing mills to anonymously compare themselves against national and global peers across five KPIs: machine productivity, labour productivity, material yield, machine efficiency, and energy consumption. Strong uptake from Indian mills—particularly large U.S. cotton users—signals rising appetite for evidence-based operational improvement as margins tighten.
India remains the world’s largest user of Supima cotton, with mills valuing its consistency, strength and premium performance. Beyond fibre quality, CCI highlighted growing adoption of the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, driven by brands’ demands for traceability and science-based sustainability credentials.
While acknowledging recent downturns caused by global overcapacity and demand contraction, CCI leadership struck a cautiously optimistic note. In India, stabilising orders and renewed interest in quality-driven and sustainability-linked production are restoring confidence.
The message from CCI was clear: in today’s textile economy, competitiveness is no longer about fibre alone—but about measurable performance, transparency, and continuous improvement.
