Turkish Textile Executives to Visit US Cotton Belt

Mitchell noted that Turkey is: 1) the world’s fourth largest cotton consumer with an estimated total domestic consumption of 5.9 million bales in 2010-11; 2) the world’s third largest importer of cotton, with 3.2 million bales estimated for 2010-11; and 3) the second largest customer of U.S. cotton – with the 2.2 million plus bales of U.S. cotton that country already has imported in the 2010-11 year exceeding their total 2009-10 U.S. cotton imports of 2.2 million bales.

The Turkish group will begin their U.S. tour activities in New York City with a briefing from CCI on May 8 and a seminar with ICE Futures on May 9. Later that day in Raleigh, NC, they will meet with representatives of AMCOT, the Southern Cotton Growers, Inc. and Cotton Incorporated, whose headquarters in nearby Cary they will tour the next day.

After attending the American Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) annual meeting in Washington, DC, on May 11, the group will travel to Memphis where they will tour the USDA classing office and have meetings with NCC staff at its headquarters offices and with AMCOT. On May 13, the contingent will be in Lubbock, TX, for a meeting with the Lubbock Cotton Exchange, AMCOT, the Texas Cotton Association and Plains Cotton Growers, Inc. The tour will conclude in California with a May 16 meeting in Bakersfield with the Western Cotton Shippers Association, AMCOT, the San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association and Supima.

The mills represented on the tour are Abateks, Aral Tekstil, Bossa, Gap Guneydogu, Has Cevher, Ilsan, Karacasu, Malatya Iplik, Markeks, Mina Texstil and Ozcicek.
 
Cotton Council International (CCI)