China’s organic cotton sector grows, despite sanctions

TEXAS – Demand by fashion brands for organic cotton from China is on the rise – despite well-established links with forced labour. Exports of cotton from China have been hit with Withhold Release Orders (WRO) from US Customs and Border Protection in recent years – with a focus on cotton from Xinjiang – and the introduction of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). However, latest figures from US consultants Textile Exchange show China accounted for an estimated 9.8 per cent of global organic cotton in 2020/21, and organic fibre output increased by 10 per cent year-on-year. TE’s report also documents plans by the Chinese authorities to convert around 7,000 hectares of land in Xinjiang into organic – suggesting demand has held up for the fibre.

In a welcome move, TE documented ongoing developments in China’s organic cotton sector, despite continued controversy surrounding China’s forced labour issue in Xinjiang, which has been focused on the persecution of the indigenous Uyghur Muslim population.

The report states: “As mentioned earlier in this report, we include the data received from every producing country to create a complete picture of global supply, as we have done for China. Textile Exchange does not perform certification work itself, nor provide on-the-ground program work regarding the production of organic cotton or any other fibre in any country, nor make recommendations for preferred sourcing locations.”

Elsewhere, TE states that the 2020/21 global harvest saw 342,265 tonnes of organic cotton fibre produced on 621,691 hectares of certified organic land, and 180,726 tonnes of in-conversion fibre produced on 293,204 hectares of land in-conversion to organic.

Says the report: “Compared to 2019/20, this represents an estimated 37 per cent growth in organic fibre. With overall cotton production reported by ICAC in 2020/21 totaling 24,380,507 tonnes, this means that 1.4 per cent of all cotton grown is estimated to have been organic.

“The total number of countries growing certified organic cotton in 2020/21 remained at 21, but there were some changes in the line-up. The projects in Thailand, Myanmar, and Senegal didn’t produce any certified organic cotton in 2020/21 due to flooding, political instability, and certification issues. However, two new countries–Spain and Kazakhstan–grew organic cotton for the first time, and Argentina came back into certification.”

However, TE adds a note of warning about the figures. It this year for the first time offers three levels of confidence in figures for various countries, these being high, medium and low.

India is comfortably the largest producer of organic cotton in the world, however, confidence in the figures for this country is rated as ‘low’. Because of this, overall production figures – including claims of a 37 per cent increase in growth – could be significantly skewed.