A two-day international cotton summit will begin tomorrow at Radisson Hotel in Dhaka in a bid to improve relations between buyers and suppliers of the product.
Styled as “Global Cotton Summit Bangladesh -2015,” the event is first of its kind in the country, being organised jointly by Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA) and Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA).
Textiles and Jute Minister Mohammad Imaj Uddin Pramanik is expected to inaugurate the summit, said the organisers at a press conference yesterday.
The organisers said the cotton suppliers and buyers had been engaged in disputes because of problems related to weight, quality and LC opening.
Such disputes led to the souring of relations between the parties.
The organisers hope the summit will help better the prevailing situation.
“Buyers make short-weight and quality claims against the supplied cotton while sellers complain about late LC opening. As huge sums of money are involved with all these allegations, the relation between them becomes worse,” said BTMA president Tapan Chowdhury.
Bangladesh is not a cotton growing country but has a spinning industry which has developed a lot, he said.
The country’s spinning mills have to import about 90% of its cotton demand, but the whole demand of yarns is met locally, Tapan said.
According to BTMA data, Bangladesh is the second largest cotton importing country and the import has seen a 65% growth in last one decade.
In the 2005, the import of cotton was 3m bale which rose to 5.5bn in 2014.
Bangladesh has set a target to earn $50bn from the textile and clothing sector.
“It is possible, but to achieve this target, we have to ensure uninterrupted supply chain of fabrics and yarn,” BTMA president emphasised.
“Supply chain of cotton, the main raw material of fabrics, is also very important, and the summit will help in this regard,” he added.
In the summit, there will have 13 sessions on the subjects including Bangladesh spinning industry in next decade, global cotton outlook, Bangladesh economy in next 10 years, Indian cotton, new development, US cotton industry and supply chain marketing, impact of cotton quality on textile mills, efficiency- value vs price, cotton industry in Bangladesh: buyers and sellers perspective, cotton production in Bangladesh and its challenges, presentation on ICA rules, risk management, textile industry going green and cotton university and cotton leads.
Indian Cotton Association, African Cotton Association, Karachi Cotton Association and other leading cotton organisations along with global cotton shippers, traders and merchants will participate in the summit.
BTMA vice president Showkat Aziz Russel and BCA president Muhammad Ayub were also present at the press conference.
