Textile executives representing 11 companies from Vietnam got a better understanding of how U.S. cotton can add value to the products they manufacture when they recently traveled across the U.S. Cotton Belt.
This COTTON USA Special Trade Mission was coordinated by Cotton Council International, the National Cotton Council’s export promotions arm.
Vietnam has emerged as the world’s second largest cotton fiber importing country—and currently is the largest market for U.S. cotton. U.S. export sales commitments to that country are approximately 3.3 million bales for the 2017-18 marketing year while commitments for the 2018-19 marketing year already stand at 930,000 bales.
CCI President Ted Schneider, a Louisiana cotton producer, said this trade mission heightened these important customers’ awareness of U.S. cotton fiber’s quality, sustainability, transparency and premium value; and facilitated face-to-face sessions between U.S. cotton exporters and the 14 participating textile executives from Vietnam.
“This event not only should generate additional sales of U.S. raw cotton but strengthen our exporters’ relationships with these important Asian customers,” Schneider said.
Overall, mills in Vietnam are expected to import 7.7 million bales in 2018-19—with the companies represented on this COTTON USA trade mission expected to import 41 percent of those bales (about 3.2 million).
The Vietnamese delegation began its tour in New York with a CCI briefing and an ICE Futures seminar. They also saw cotton research in North Carolina, toured the USDA cotton classing office in Bartlett, Tennessee, and visited a cotton farm, gin and warehouse in south Texas.
The group also met with exporters in the Cotton Belt’s four major regions and with these industry organizations: AMCOT, American Cotton Producers, American Cotton Shippers Association, Cotton Incorporated, Lubbock Cotton Exchange, the NCC, Plains Cotton Growers, Inc., Southern Cotton Growers Association, Texas Cotton Association, Western Cotton Shippers Association and Supima.
