Bangladesh is expected to remain the world’s top importer of cotton in 2016-17. It .is expected as the volume increased by 10 per cent to 1.2 million tons, Following it is Vietnam that imports 1.1 million tons a 15 per cent rise, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), a platform of governments of cotton producing and consuming countries. In a release, the ICAC has said in 2016-17, world cotton consumption would presumably remain unchanged from 2015-16 at 23.8 million tones. But it is projected to exceed production by 1.3 million tons. Consumption was 23.78 million tons in 2015-16 and 24.20 million tons in 2014-15. Production was 21.10 million tons in 2015-16 and 26.20 million tons in 2014/15. Exports from the United States are projected to increase by 26 per cent to 2.5 million tons while exports from India, the second largest exporter, is forecast to fall by 35 per cent to 8,20,000 tons. In 2016-17, the world cotton area is forecast to fall by 1 per cent to 30 million hectares, which is the smallest amount of area under cotton since 2009-10, when the planted area reached 29.7 million hectares.
