Affected By The New Crown Epidemic, The Export Of West African Cotton Fiber To China Dropped Sharply

On July 1, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) disclosed in its monthly announcement that from August 2019 to April 2020, the cotton fiber export volume of West African countries to China was only 53000 tons, a significant decrease of 48% compared with 101000 tons in the same period of last year.

The committee said that China is the world's largest cotton consumer, and in the context of the new crown epidemic, China's textile industry demand slowed down, which is the main reason for the sharp decline in West Africa's exports to China. In addition, China and the United States reached the first stage trade agreement in January this year, and the pace of US exports to China accelerated from March to April, which also brought troubles to African exporters to a certain extent.

According to ICAC's earlier forecast, the cotton fiber output of West Africa in 2019-2020 will be about 1.3 million tons, of which the export volume to China can reach 1.1 million tons. ICAC pointed out that since 2018, the cotton industry has been under the dual pressure of long-term consumption decline and price decline, and the new crown epidemic situation has added new challenges to the industry.

It is estimated that the global cotton production in 2019-2020 will be 26.1 million tons, and the total consumption in the same period will be 22.5 million tons.

Note: the business office of the Chinese Embassy in Mali was compiled according to the report of Malian independent on July 6, 2020.