Cotton use in the United States started late in 18th century as American established textile mills used cotton instead of exporting it to then global textile leader the Great Britton. More than 139 years later the cotton use in US is lowest ever.
American mills will be processing the lowest quantity of US cotton this year since process began in 1885. The US Department of Agriculture in its latest updated forecast forecast has revealed that the US textile mills will feed just 1.74 million bales of cotton into their machines in the 2023-2024 marketing year that ends in July which is the slowest consumption of the commodity in 139 years. The mill consumption of cotton has been declining gradually and this year’s consumption would be lower by 15 per cent than last year.
The yarn and fabric producing US factories that consume cotton are gradually disappearing as they find it harder to compete with cheaper production from overseas competitors who also out bid them in synthetic fibers. The US mill use made a brief recovery in the 1990s, when trade deals encouraged the US to export yarn and fabric to be turned into clothes in other countries before being sent back and sold.
The foreign competitors produce cheaper yarn and fabric even after importing cotton from the US which is thousands of miles away from main production centers.
Cotton demand from US textile mills drops to lowest since 1885
