China plans to set up alternative to Better Cotton programme

BEIJING – China has announced plans to set up a domestic version of the Better Cotton Initiative, while claiming the current technical requirements of the Swiss-based BCI are “pretty low” and do not focus heavily on cotton quality. According to the South China Morning Post, Beijing-based cotton vertical service provider Zhongnong Guoji established the Weilai Cotton – “future cotton”- project two years ago. Its progress has been limited to date, however, BCI’s exit from the Xinjiang region has accelerated the work.