Textile Exchange: organic cotton production to ‘skyrocket’
01/07/2021
It has published its 2021 Organic Cotton Market Report, which shows 229,280 farmers grew 249,153 tonnes of organic cotton fibre on 588,425 hectares of certified organic land in 21 countries.
Organic cotton accounts for around 1% of the global cotton harvest.
The top seven organic cotton-producing countries, which together account for 95 percent of global production, were India (50%), China (12%), Kyrgyzstan (12%), Turkey (10%), Tanzania (5%), Tajikistan (4%), and the US (3%).
Organic cotton production is set to skyrocket in 2020/21, said TE, with an estimated 48% growth, stemming predominantly from India and Turkey. In India, this growth is largely a result of increased demand causing organic cotton prices to increase. This, in turn, makes it a more attractive option for farmers and is leading existing producers to dedicate a larger share of their certified organic land to growing cotton versus other crops. In Turkey, increased demand is also the main driver, but the growth is more a result of new producers starting up organic cotton production.
Uzbekistan and Myanmar joined the line-up of organic cotton producers in 2019/20. The biggest contributors to the global growth were Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan, followed by Uganda, the US, Pakistan, India and Turkey.
India once again had the most land in conversion to organic, followed most closely by Turkey, Tajikistan, and Tanzania. At least 50,552 hectares of cotton land were in conversion to organic cotton in 2019/20, which is equivalent to 9% of the total certified production area.
Graph credit: Textile Exchange
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