Cotton farmers in Zimbabwe should brace for lower producer prices for the crop in the coming marketing season compared with the previous one as demand for synthetic fibres continues to increase, an official says.
Synthetic fibres are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibres and in general are created by extruding fibre-forming materials through spinnerets into air and water, forming a thread.
Common synthetic fibres include nylon, acrylic and polyester.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union Executive Director Paul Zakariya said over the weekend that the little cotton which will be produced this season was likely to be met with poor producer prices as the world cotton price continued to tumble.
“China, which is both a world renowned producer as well as consumer of cotton is turning more and more to the use of synthetic fibres,” he said. “Noting the economic gains by way of that substitution, cotton prices will for the foreseeable future continue to slide.”
Last year, the producer price for cotton in Zimbabwe was 30 US cents per pound.
The International Cotton Advisory Council has said the uptake of cotton by the world’s largest consumer, China, would fall five per cent this year.
“As discussed last month, low prices for polyester, the main competing fibre, has hurt world cotton consumption in 2015/16,” the council said.
“Cotton consumption in China, the world’s largest consumer, has declined continuously since 2009/10 when it reached just over 10 million tons. In 2015/16, cotton consumption in China is forecast at 7.1 million tons, down 5.0 per cent from last season. India’s cotton consumption is expected to decline by 2.0 per cent to 5.3 million tonnes.”
The 2015/16 farming season has been badly affected by an El Nino-induced drought.
— BERNAMA-NNN-NEW ZIANA
