BEIJING: China, the world’s largest cotton user, will import less fiber this year and that will be bearish for global prices, according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee.
Overseas purchases will tumble 33 percent to 1.2 million tons in the year started August from 1.8 million tons a year earlier, the committee estimates. The Asian nation will instead increase imports of cotton yarn from countries including Vietnam and India, Rebecca Pandolph, a statistician at the committee known as ICAC, said in an interview in Mumbai on Monday.
“I don’t think it is likely that China will ever come back to the market with imports in large quantities as it did in the past,” Pandolph said. “The anticipated drop in imports is visible in significantly lower imports in recent months. A drop in imports by China will have a bearish effect on global cotton prices in 2015-16.”
Cotton has gained 6.9 percent this year to withstand a rout in commodities from copper to crude oil and nickel as an economic slowdown in China erodes demand for raw materials. Global cotton prices will average about 70 cents a pound in 2015-16 and trade in a range of 61 cents to 82 cents, Lorena Ruiz, an economist at the committee, told an industry conference in Mumbai on Tuesday.
