1) USA

Setting the seed

• The seed from e3 sustainable cotton is subjected to random third-party verification.

• The verification system includes data on the environmental impact on areas such as water
efficiency, pesticide management and usage, soil and fertility management, greenhouse gas
reduction, energy conservation, worker health and safety, and identity preservation.
• Cotton is a drought-resistant crop, providing reliable income to farmers in areas like Louisiana
and Mississippi.

On the farm

• On farms modern farming methods range from engineered seeds like BASF’s Fibermax and
Stoneville allow for traceability and more sustainable crops, to highly efficient planting and
cultivating machinery and field management, all of which allow farmers to grow bountiful and
competitive crops.
• They use advanced technologies all controlled by GPS that allow them to operate 24 hours a day
if necessary. This reduces their team, but it also reduces overlap and saves money.
• Sensors implanted in the soil help the farmers and their workers determine the moistness of the
soil, and therefore the best time to set the machines in motion to plant, fertilize and pick the
crops. They also help determine the need and timing for irrigation.
• Sustainability is baked into efforts on the farm. Planting cover crops in the off season to maintain
the ecosystem and introduction of nitrogen into the soil to improve seasonal crop growth and
reducing fertilizer use leads to better crop.

Ginning the cotton

• Once the cotton is picked, it’s sent to a gin, where ginners break down the raw plant and
basically “clean it up” by removing stalks and husks and byproducts such as cotton seed and
short-staple fibers that have a myriad of their own commercial applications.
• The cottonseed is used to produce oil and meal used in food products, and in livestock and
poultry feed.
• At the gin, the cotton first proceeds through dryers to reduce moisture content and then through
cleaning equipment to remove foreign matter. The cotton is then air conveyed to gin stands
where revolving circular saws pull the lint through closely spaced ribs that prevent the seed from
passing through.
• The lint is removed from the saw teeth by air blasts or rotating brushes. It’s then compressed into
bales weighing approximately 500 pounds.
• The cotton bales are marked internally and externally to show from which farm and on what day
it was picked. This is for traceability and commercial purposes.
• A typical gin will process about 12 bales per hour, while some of today’s more modern gins may
process as many as 60 bales an hour.
• The processed cotton is then moved to a warehouse for storage until it is shipped to a textile mill
for use. At the warehouse, it was explained that the bales are further marked for storage and sale
to textile mills.

Doing the research

• Along the way, research facilities are constantly seeking new best practices and innovations for
growing cotton and other row crops.
• The LSU Ag Center has launched a project with local farms to study practices farmers can
implement to decrease the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous, fertilizers, pesticides and other
inputs needed to grow a successful crop; and reduce the environmental impact in the Mississippi
River Valley; and minimize nutrient runoff that contributes to hypoxia, or inadequate oxygen, in
the Gulf of Mexico.
• Melissa Cater, director of the AgCenter Northeast Region, noted that awards—such as the first
Hardwick Family Internship Awards that included a $500 check for students who worked on the
station this summer—are a way to help young people with their school expenses.
• The program is also meant to encourage and instill best practices in farm management.

At the mill

• The fruition of the cotton supply chain is seen when the raw material is manufactured into a
finished product.

As a whole, the [U.S.] industry has several large objectives–to be the world leader for sustainable
cotton production, be the supplier of choice for companies that want to source sustainably grown
cotton and also just make a difference, and make the world and their farms a better place.

2) BRAZIL

• Farmers in Brazil have taken the lead in development and conservation of soil.
• The biggest difference between the system adopted by Brazilian farmers and other countries is
that the former have understood that conservation of soil is a long drawn system and not a one
time application.
• This environmentally friendly system involves growing a grass or cereal cover crop which makes
a large amount of biomass, usually 4 to 8 metric tons per hectare of dry matter. Various cover
crops are used, but the most popular in the main cotton growing region, the Cerrado, is pearl
millet.
• The growing season of Pearl millet complements that of cotton. A few weeks prior to cotton
planting, the cover crop is terminated with herbicide or mechanically using large rollers or chain
drags.
• This lays the stems of the cover crop flat on the soil surface, providing a thick mat of residue or
straw which completely covers the soil.
• The cotton is then seeded directly into the soil beneath the mulch using specially designed no-
tillage planting equipment. The soil remains undisturbed except for a narrow (2-5 cm wide) area
where the seed are placed.
• The soil is not touched by a plow, and the cover crop mulch completely covers the soil, protecting
it from wind and soil erosion, shading and cooling the soil for better root growth, suppressing
weeds and reducing the need for herbicides, and dramatically conserving water.
• Yields are almost always increased compared to the older system of using the plow. The
mulching effect of the cover crop combined with the elimination of tillage increases the
infiltration of rain, reducing wastes from runoff and erosion. This reduces drought stress on the
cotton, increasing yields.
• Yields are also increased by the reduction of competition from weeds. Finally the soil
productivity is increased over time from the addition and conservation of soil carbon in organic
matter.
• Improved soil productivity results in better root growth, increased biodiversity and fewer
diseases, and better use of plant nutrients.
• In the longer term, this system takes carbon from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and stores
it in the crop residue and soil. This process reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and helps to
mitigate global warming.
• The carbon is stored in the soil organic matter and this improves the soil quality and productivity
of the soil, leading to higher yields over time.
• Cotton grown with this system is of the same quality as that grown with traditional methods, but
less environmentally friendly means. If anything, fibre quality can be improved because there is
less drought stress on the cotton plants in this system.
• This system makes cotton production more economically sustainable for the Brazilian cotton
farmer. It reduces input costs and maintains yields. It allows for fewer inputs of time, machinery,
labor and chemicals.
• This makes Brazilian cotton production more competitive in the global market.
• Result of using this system that farmers have more time to spend with their families.

Through the 90s Brazil was a significant importer of raw cotton with annual imports of 1.5 to 2
million bales. However, it has now become a net exporter. If the Brazilian method of cotton
cultivation was to be encouraged by the drought prone countries, it would lead to more economic
prosperity among its farmers.

3) VIETNAM
• In the near-term, it is likely that Vietnamese yarn, textile, and footwear production will be one of
the biggest beneficiaries if brands try to reduce their dependence on China.
• However, for the moment, Vietnam is heavily reliant on Chinese imports.
• In particular, Vietnam relies on China for about 60% of fabric, 55% of yarn and fibre, and 45%
of trims used in apparel production.
• Domestic yarn and textile production has increased in Vietnam, and it sources much of its cotton
from the United States.
• But significant investment in the Vietnamese textile industry is needed to reduce Vietnam’s
reliance on Chinese imports, and Vietnam would need a reliable source of cotton as well. 

• Although Vietnam-the world's fourth largest textile and apparel exporter - has huge potential for
cotton cultivation and production,
• the local sources supply less than 2 per cent of the total requirements and the industry imports
huge quantities from outside.
• The country's Vietnam National Textile and Garment Group (Vinatex) now plans to invest $441.3
million in 59 textile, dyeing, garment and infrastructure projects over the next two years alone.
• Government policies are favourable to industry and entry barriers are not high. Vietnam's textile
and apparel industry is now looking forward to another boom, and presents an opportunity for
others to cash in on its growth plans.
• The local fabric industry supplies about 20 per cent of the total input demand by the garment
sector, the rest is imported from overseas for export-oriented garment industries.
• For Vietnam's textile and apparel industry, entry barriers are not high due to favourable
government policies to encourage the development of this industry and moderate requirements of
technology, capital, etc.
• In addition, access to inputs and distribution channels are also relatively easy. This explains why
there are now approximately 6,000 businesses operating in the textile and apparel industry
throughout the country.
• Large number of suppliers, moderate difference and low costs of switching suppliers lead to low
bargaining power of suppliers.
• Currently, the main suppliers for Vietnam's textile and apparel enterprises are companies in
China, South Korea and Taiwan. To be eligible for incentives from the proposed TPP and EU-
Vietnam FTA, manufacturers have to switch from suppliers in those countries to that in Vietnam
or TPP countries.
• Bargaining power of buyers is not too high due to high demand and low production capacity of
enterprises. In particular, during the peak period of Q2 and Q3 each year, these businesses
typically operate at maximum capacity.
• With the increasing trend of Chinese labour costs and expectations from trade agreements,
Vietnam's apparel industry will continue to enhance its role in the global chain.
• The ability to convert substitute product line is high (for example, from jeans to khaki, from t-
shirts to shirts, from one brand to other brands, etc.).
• This is the result of low costs of changing products, the diversity of price and product quality and
changes in fashion trends over time.
• Although demand in the industry is high, the competition in the industry is high as well.
• The competition is not only for large customers, but also in market of inputs and labour.
• Currently, the ancillary industry of Vietnam only meets the small demand for inputs; so the
business is subject to intense competition for access to raw material quality, reasonable prices.
• Besides, labour is one of the most important elements of the manufacturing process. Labour in the
textile and apparel industry are mainly women who have not worked for too long in the industry.
• Enterprises have to be in fierce competition to attract and retain employees, especially employees
with experience and skills.

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4) INDIA

• India is the world’s largest cotton producer and has further capacity for increasing production.
• Similar to West Africa, production of cotton in India is characterised by low yield rates and
mostly smallholder farms. However, the inconsistent quality of cotton presents challenges for
India’s attractiveness as a major vertically integrated sourcing destination.
• Still, the country is the world’s second-largest textile exporter, and the national government has
invested in the textile industry, recently setting up a national textile plan to upgrade technology,
improve productivity, and promote textile exports.
• Labour rights vary across India’s geographic regions, with significant challenges related to child
and bonded labour, including in agriculture.
• Labour rights have been eroded under the Modi government, including several states suspending
labour laws during the Covid-19 crisis.
•
Cotton Production Process in India
Here, we are showing cotton processing steps.
• Planting
The first step of cotton production is to prepare the land for planting by creating furrows in the soil.
The cotton planting season is early February and late June. With the help of direct water irrigation
and furrows, the soil warms faster. When the soil temperature reaches 65 degrees, the soil is ready
for planting. Farmers will plant the seed in the soil.
This process is an important and difficult step for cotton farming. But with the proper precaution
and advanced farm machine, it becomes easier. For planting and soil preparation farmers should use
heavy farm machines like a harrow, cultivator, land leveler, etc., with tractors. Soil preparation
improves the quality of soil for good production.
• Growing
In the next step, we see the growth of plants. After 1-2 weeks of planting the seed sprouts up from
the soil. After 8-10 weeks, the plant blooms and grows 2-5 feet tall. The flower pollinates itself and
changes from a creamy white color to pinkish-red within three days. After this process the flower
withers and falls off, leaving behind the developing boll. At about 10 weeks the cotton boll
develops.
• Boll Opening

In the third step, the cotton bolls open so that the dry white bolls can evaporate, can clean the fiber,
and fluff it up. With this process, the cotton crops are ready to be harvested. The cotton bolls open
after the 50-70 days of bloom.
• Picking

This step needs the farm machine which removes the fiber from the plant. The cotton picker or
cotton harvesting farm machine used to harvest the cotton, the process called picking. The machine
can harvest up to 6-8 rows at a time. The cotton harvesting season is early July or late October.

• Modules

In the step, the picker’s cotton dumped on

the ground and compressed with a
hydraulic module builder to make a
module. The modules are left in the field
for storage.

• Ginning

In this process, the modules transported to

the cotton gain, where the cotton dried,
cleaned, and the fiber mechanically
separated from the cotton. The gin is a machine made with circular saws which separate the raw
fiber through ribs. The ribs are used to avoid the seed from passing. The machine carefully
separates the fiber from cottonseed.

• Cottonseed

After the separation of cottonseed, it is suitable for making cotton oil, cotton meal, hulls, and other
important things.

• Cotton Fiber

In this process, the raw fiber, called lint, is pressed into bales. Cotton fiber makes clothes, textiles,
and many more. The bales are packed with eight steel straps, tested by experts, wrapped with full
protection, and exported to the yards, mills, and other countries.

5) CHINA
• With around 20% of the world’s cotton coming out of the Xinjiang region of China, a new
report argues laws aimed at eliminating inputs from the region can only be effective if new
sourcing hubs are developed and the capacity to trace products back to their source is
significantly strengthened.
• China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) produces around one-fifth of the
world’s cotton and is the country’s largest exporter of textiles and apparel. Much of this
raw cotton is also spun into yarns that are used in factories globally. 
• But due to repressive government programmes transferring hundreds of thousands of
Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, production in
China may introduce forced labour into global supply chains. 
• To speed the development of alternative sourcing hubs that are free from XUAR-linked
forced labour, there must be a coordinated effort to encourage long-term investment in
new locations.
• International human rights and environmental standards must also form a fundamental
element of the strategy, it says.

• Industry experts have suggested the development of new sourcing hubs typically takes
around ten years.
• This requires substantial investment in yarn and textile mills, which require expensive
equipment and skilled workers and do not provide a return on investment for a number of
years.
• China plays a vital role in almost all aspects of the value chain, including cotton farming,
yarn spinning, textile and fabric manufacturing, and garment cut-and-sew. In addition to
its own production, China exports yarn, fabric and garments to neighbouring countries
such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.
• China has established itself as a dominant player due to its combination of scale, diversity,
technical capacity, and vertical integration.
• In 2019, it exported four times as much as Bangladesh, the second-largest exporter, by
dollar value.
•  Further upstream in the supply chain, the value of China’s textile exports is almost seven
times the value of exports from the next largest textile manufacturer.
• Long-term trends will accelerate the movement of cut-and-sew facilities out of China, and
as the country continues to transition toward high-technology and skill-intensive
industries, the relative importance of the apparel industry is likely to decrease.
• Finally, global macroeconomic trends predict higher labour costs and a shrinking
workforce in China.
SUMMARY OF CONTAINER AND PACKAGING OF
COTTON

• Though construction schedules have slipped at several resin plants, chemical analysts expect a
half-dozen large manufacturers to start production by the end of this year.
• New plants often take three to six months to hit full production.
• Tight container availability could raise cotton exporters’ transportation costs, and shippers say
increased resin volume may strain trucking capacity in some areas.
• In addition, vessel capacity has been cited in an issue at Houston and other container ports on the
Gulf Coast, where US resin production is centered.
• Cotton exports, which account for three-fourths of US production, are expected to finish the 12
months at their second-highest total on record, despite reduced shipments to China, which has
been trimming stockpiles.
• The USDA forecasts that global cotton trade will remain stable during the coming year but that
the US market share will slip to 37 percent from 40 percent amid rising competition from
countries such as Australia, Brazil, and Uzbekistan, where plantings have increased in response
to higher prices.
• China, for years the top destination for US cotton, has been supplanted by Vietnam, whose share
of US containerized cotton exports soared to 18 percent last year from 5 percent in 2010, PIERS
reports.
• This shift is rooted in China’s ill-timed decision to guarantee prices for its producers after a
global price spike in 2010 to 2011. The guarantees left China with vast stockpiles purchased at
above-market prices.
• Since 2014, China has been unwinding its surplus by reducing imports and and increasing
exports.
• Vietnam has picked up much of the slack from China,At some point China is going to come back
into the game, but no one knows when that will be.
• China’s cotton-spinning industry remains the world’s largest, with one-third of total mill
capacity, and continues to expand. Its mills’ consumption of raw cotton this year is expected to
be up 12 percent from three years ago, the USDA reports.
• Vietnam’s cotton mill use is expected to be up 44 percent during the same period.
• A relatively small but fast-growing US export market is Bangladesh. Its US cotton imports
jumped 34.7 percent year over year in 2016 to 5,021 TEU.
• The increase was aided by crop issues that affected exports from neighboring India, the world’s
No. 2 exporter.
• Like Vietnam, Bangladesh is a growth market,There may be some potential for the US to capture
a larger share of that market, but we have competition, because India is right next door.
• In addition to its location next to India, Bangladesh presents shippers with more complexity.
• Unlike Vietnam and China, whose ports are called by numerous weekly services from the US
East and West Coasts, Bangladesh is served mainly by feeder services.
• Cotton exporters also have challenges on their supply chains’ US end.
• More than 45 percent of US cotton is produced in Texas, where the harvest season begins in the
Rio Grande Valley around August and extends through the end of the year in the north.
• As with many other agricultural commodities, there is a natural mismatch between the
production sites and the location of empty containers, which tend to accumulate around import
distribution hubs.
• Mid-South producers can find empties in Memphis, and southeastern produces have access to
Atlantic ports from Virginia to Savannah.
• West Texas cotton shippers around Lubbock draw empty boxes from Dallas-Fort Worth, 350

miles to the east, and rail them to Los Angeles and Long Beach for shipment to Asia.

Supply Chain for uncertain times , plan B