2.2 Stage 2: textile and spinning

In this second stage of textile production the cotton bales are used to create a cotton yarn which is then woven into a fabric. As a means of identifying the countries most involved at this stage of the supply chain you will look at which countries import the most cotton. This will be measured by considering which countries import the most cotton using data on the top ten importers as a percentage of total world cotton imports.

This stage of the supply chain introduces some different key actors compared with our initial stage of cotton production. Bangladesh imports 10.7% of the world’s cotton imports. In terms of volume of cotton imported Bangladesh is the biggest importer of cotton, importing 1 655 thousand metric tons (Statista 2019). The large amount of cotton imported into Bangladesh reflects its extensive use of cotton as an input combined with its own relatively low cotton production. China is notable as an important cotton producer and importer of cotton. Vietnam is interestingly not on the list of top 10 cotton producing countries but are important exporters of cotton and key players as cotton importers.