Ten U.S. cotton organizations have promised industry contributions in 2018 to sustenance the demand-building activities of Cotton Council International (CCI), the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) export promotion arm, headquartered in Washington, D.C.

Plains Cotton Growers Executive Vice President Steve Verett says that the 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 dynamic to helping safeguard that the rest of the world knows why U.S. cotton is a superior product and worthy of sourcing. The fact that 80 per cent of U.S. cotton is exported highlights the critical need for a healthy export market.

U.S. cotton industry contributions help CCI to build export markets for U.S. cotton fiber, yarn and other cotton products, and are an invaluable supplement to the funding from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service’s Market Access Program (MAP) and Foreign Market Development (FMD) program. CCI is the largest recipient of MAP and FMD funding to promote U.S. cotton overseas.

CCI promotes U.S. cotton in more than 50 countries under its COTTON USA trademark. Last year alone, buyers and sellers throughout the global textile supply chain conducted more than 2,100 business meetings at COTTON USA events aimed at increasing exports of U.S. cotton.

Export markets are critical to the U.S. cotton industry, as nearly all cotton grown in the United States is exported either in the form of fiber or cotton yarn.

In the 2016 marketing year, the U.S. cotton industry exported 18.4 million bales of raw cotton fiber and cotton textiles. The 2016 marketing year was the second highest year of U.S. raw fiber exports, with exports reaching 14.9 million bales.