Ten US cotton organisations have pledged industry contributions in 2018 to support the demand-building activities of Cotton Council International (CCI), the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) export promotion arm, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The ten organisations that have pledged to support CCI activities are the National Cotton Council; Cotton Incorporated; American Cotton Shippers Association; AMCOT; California Cotton Alliance; the Committee for Cotton Research; ICE Futures U.S.; Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.; Southern Cotton Growers, Inc.; and Supima.

Plains Cotton Growers executive vice president Steve Verett announced in a weekly newsletter of Cotton USA, “Our growers believe that contributing to CCI is an investment in the future of our industry and ultimately is essential to our success. The work they do is vital to helping ensure that the rest of the world knows why US cotton is a superior product and worthy of sourcing. The fact that 80 per cent of US cotton is exported highlights the critical need for a healthy export market.”

US cotton industry contributions go a long way to support CCI to build export markets for US cotton fibre, yarn and other cotton products and are a very important additional help to the funding from the USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) programme.

CCI is the largest recipient of MAP and FMD funding to promote US cotton abroad. Its use of funds from USDA and US cotton organisations has enabled it to efficiently enhance cotton exports and to improve the economic returns of 18,500 cotton farms in the US.

CCI executive director Bruce Atherley noted, “CCI showcases US cotton’s quality, sustainability, transparency, premium value and innovation, all of which make US cotton the cotton the world trusts. I’m a strong believer that every industry has to have ‘skin in the game’ to be successful. So, our US cotton industry contributions are critical in making US cotton the preferred fibre for mills, manufacturers, brands, retailers and consumers worldwide.”

Export markets are key to the US cotton industry, as nearly all cotton grown in the US is exported either as fibre or cotton yarn. Currently, the US is the leading exporter of cotton fibre in the world with a 39 per cent share internationally. In the 2016 marketing year, the US cotton industry exported 18.4 million bales of raw cotton and cotton textiles.