Cotton: World Markets and Trade (February 2003)

February 2003 Edition:

What Happened To India's Import Market?

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This month, India's cotton import forecast for MY 2002/03 was lowered 300,000 bales to 1.5 million bales. That is below total MY 2001/02 imports. India's cotton imports and export-oriented textile industries have shown strong growth in recent years, and this summer's weather troubles caused doubts about India's production and raised expectations for imports. In August, it looked as though India would be the world's largest cotton importer in MY 2002/03. Crop conditions improved during the fall, and due to price concerns and some negative quality experiences with imports last year, Indian mills turned first to domestic production and some are reportedly covered through the end of the marketing year.

India's lagging imports are one of the biggest surprises of the marketing year thus far, and U.S. exporters are particularly affected. In marketing year 2001/02, U.S. cotton exports to India more than tripled to over one million bales, and the U.S. share of total Indian imports rose from 20 percent to 60 percent. India became the third largest foreign destination for U.S. cotton, after Mexico and Turkey, representing 9 percent of total U.S. cotton exports. As of the end of January 2003, U.S. cotton export commitments to India were only about 150,000 bales, compared with nearly 900,000 bales this time last year. But India's import demand will need to rise significantly in the second half of the season as domestic supplies tighten. With reduced exportable supplies in Australia and West Africa, the U.S. is positioned to capture a substantial share of India's forecast import demand.

Download the entire circular.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

U.S. Cotton Outlook
World Cotton Outlook
Cotton Prices
U.S. Cotton Highlights

Most statistical tables contained in this circular may be viewed in Adobe Acrobat format ® (.pdf).

Tables

Table 1: World Cotton Supply, Use and Trade, 1997/98-2002/2003 (1,000 metric tons) {.pdf}
Table 2: World Cotton Supply, Use and Trade, 1997/98-2002/2003 (1,000 480-lb. bales) {.pdf}
Table 3: FY 2002 GSM-102 and Supplier Credit Programs {.pdf}
Table 4: Area, Yield, and Production by Country 2001/2002-2002/2003 {.pdf}
Table 5: Cotton Supply & Distribution by Country 2002/2003 (1,000 480-lb. bales) {.pdf}
Table 5-A: Cotton Supply & Distribution by Country 2002/2003 (1,000 metric tons) {.pdf}
Table 6: Cotton Supply & Distribution by Country 2002/2003 (1,000 480-lb. bales) {.pdf}
Table 6-A: Cotton Supply & Distribution by Country, 2002/2003 (1,000 metric tons) {.pdf}
Table 7: Export Sales Summary {.pdf}
Table 8: Northern European Cotton and Adjusted World Price {.pdf}
Table 9: World Cotton Production, Yield, Supply, and Utilization {.pdf}
Table 10: United States Cotton Production, Yield, Supply, and Utilization {.pdf}
Table 11: Foreign Cotton Production, Yield, Supply, and Utilization {.pdf}
Table 12: New Independent States Cotton Supply and Demand, MY 1991/92-2002/2003 {.pdf}
Table 13:Summary of Changes 2000/02-2002/2003 (1,000 480-lb. bales) {.pdf}

	Most statistical tables are available in Adobe Acrobat and Lotus version 3 format. You may need to GET the Acrobat reader.
Download the trade tables in Lotus 123 version 3 format. Please note that some versions of Netscape Navigator will change the filename extension; if this happens, you MUST rename the file to .wk3 to access it.

Last modified: Tuesday, August 30, 2005