China's move to impose duty on US cotton shipments will help India.
India, the world’s second-biggest cotton exporter, is hoping to treble shipments of the fiber to China next year.

So far, despite India’s efforts to grab a bigger piece of the Chinese market, cotton from the United States, the world’s biggest exporter, had held sway.

India is looking to sell 2.5 million to three million bales to China in the next season beginning in October, up from around 8,00,000 bales of expected exports in the 2017-18 marketing year.

India has always managed to grab at least 25 per cent of China’s total cotton imports. China’s total imports are expected to rise 38 per cent in 2018-19 as it needs to shore up depleting domestic reserves.

China produces about 32 million bales of cotton and its textile mills consume around 45 million bales, allowing imports to meet the shortfall. India benefits from geographical proximity to China compared to other competitors. As well as lower freight rates, shipments from India reach China in about two weeks compared to an average of three to six weeks from other suppliers.

During the current 2017-18 year, China is scheduled to import 2.5 million bales of cotton from the United States. Other suppliers include Brazil and Australia.