World Cotton Day

  Total U.S. cotton textile and apparel trade declined during the first half of 2024, compared with the corresponding 2023 period. U.S. cotton product imports totaled the equivalent of 7.2 million 480-pound bales of raw cotton during January–June 2024 compared with 7.4 million bales during the first 6 months of 2023, a 3-percent decline. Cotton product exports decreased 5 percent to approximately 1.2 million bale-equivalents. As a result, the cotton textile and apparel trade deficit fell about 2.5 percent during the first half of 2024, reaching 6.1 million bale equivalents. U.S. cotton product imports are sourced from many countries, although most products are imported from a handful of suppliers. During the first half of 2024, the top five countries contributed 68 percent of total U.S. cotton product imports , slightly above the corresponding period in 2023. Although the total share is similar, changes are notable for a couple of countries, indicating the vitality of each countr...

Cotton estimates for China play a major role in the global supply and demand outlook . China is by far the single largest cotton spinning country —contributing one-third of global cotton mill use—and is the largest stockholder—accounting for nearly half of the world’s surplus stocks each year. China is also among the leading cotton producing and importing countrie s. China’s prominence in the global cotton market emphasizes the importance of USDA’s China cotton supply and demand projections , with back-year estimate adjustments sometimes deemed necessary after reexamining historical data or considering additional information. The August 2024 revisions to China’s supply and demand balance sheet for 2015/16–2022/23 are a reevaluation of previous production, use, and stocks data. During the 8-year period, China’s cotton area and production outside of Xinjiang declined due to subsidy policy changes and decreased faster than previously estimated. The non-Xinjiang revisions led to a cumula...