Bangladesh lifts fumigation requirements on US cotton

This shift will remove a significant export barrier for the US cotton to Bangladesh, as well as saving Bangladeshi mills time and money as they look to the US to fill their cotton fibre import needs. Bangladeshi mills have been paying over a million dollars annually to cover unnecessary fumigation costs imposed on cotton imported from the US.

US exporters will continue to use APHIS-generated phytosanitary certificates, but under the new regulation the certificate will have additional language confirming no live boll weevils are in US baled cotton. APHIS will issue revised instructions for exporters.

Bangladesh’s agricultural and commerce ministries’ decision to lift the fumigation requirements on US cotton came after six members of the Bangladesh ministry of agriculture delegation joined a CCI-sponsored US cotton tour. Due to the coordination with the National Cotton Council (NCC), the Bangladesh ministry of agriculture delegation conducted cotton meetings in Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas. They met with the cotton industry representatives and visited cotton fields, gins and warehouses, and the USDA Agricultural Ginning Research Laboratory in Stoneville, the CCI said in a press release.

The delegation learned why the US cotton bales do not harbour live boll weevils, including a review of the US cotton industry’s successful Boll Weevil Eradication Programme and its modern cotton harvesting and standardized ginning techniques. Additional discussion topics included the phytosanitary inspection and certification process with APHIS during Zoom calls at the NCC headquarters in Cordova and during a meeting with the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Program in Abilene, Texas.

In Mississippi, the Bangladesh ministry of agriculture delegation members met with Staplcotn—a US cooperative and leading exporter of US cotton to Bangladesh—and toured a gin and warehouse. US cotton grower Sledge Taylor gave the group a tour of his family’s cotton farm and gin operations, as well as an overview of the sustainable cotton production practices that cotton growers in the US follow.

Bangladesh presently ranks as the No. 2 global importer of cotton, according to the USDA FAS’s global market analysis in May 2023. Although there is some domestic cotton produced in Bangladesh, it accounts for 1 per cent or less of total demand.

Bangladesh was a top 10 export market for US cotton in 2022, with exports valued at $477.07 million.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RR)