Eleven textile industry leaders from Turkey will tour the U.S. Cotton Belt on May 7-17 as part of a COTTON USA Special Trade Mission. The event, sponsored by the National Cotton Council’s (NCC) export promotions arm, Cotton Council International (CCI), is designed to build trading ties between the U.S. cotton industry and textile industry leaders from key Turkish mills.

“These textile executives will view the advanced state of the U.S. industry and have the opportunity to meet with U.S. cotton exporters and other industry leaders,” said CCI President John D. Mitchell, a Cordova, TN, merchant. “This is an important opportunity for U.S. cotton because the individual mills on the tour consume a total of more than 570,000 bales, with U.S. imports of about 345,000 bales.