The garment industry of Bangladesh mostly relies on the imported cotton from the raw materials that is majorly sourced from China and India. Currently, Bangladesh is the second largest cotton importer in the world and if Africa produces more cotton it will be helpful for Bangladesh and will surely be a good alternative for cotton import.
The Finance Minister AMA Muhith, while speaking at the inaugural session of the African-Asian Cotton B2B Meeting organized by International Islamic Trade Financing Corporation (ITFC) of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Group at The Westin Hotel, Dhaka on Sunday said that “African countries can be a major source of cotton used as raw materials in the Bangladesh’s garment industry, as the African cotton is not only of good quality but easy for import.” The aim of the meeting was to enhance the B2B relations between Bangladesh and African importers.
While speaking on the occasion, Mohammad Shahidullah said “African countries produce high-quality cotton. Import of African is also more cost-effective compared to other countries.” The African cotton industry is export-oriented while that of Chinese and Indians have their own demands for cotton that becomes challenging sometimes. Said by Mohammad Ali Khokon was that “the cotton import increased to 7.087 million bales from 4.876 million bales in the last five years with Africa making an increasing contribution to the global cotton supply. He said that Bangladesh has now a dominant position in cotton for 425 spinning mills.” According to the given figures by BTMA, the Bangladesh is currently sourcing about 20.88% of its net cotton from African countries apart from the import of cotton from US and India.
