What market prospects for cotton produced in Africa?
The Association française cotonnière (Afcot) held its meetings on 5 and 6 October in Lille, with wide participation by African representatives of the sector, who discussed market prospects for the continent's cotton. The new harvest is beginning while cotton from the previous harvest remains in African exporting countries: Mali faces fuel supply difficulties and struggles to move its cotton by truck to an export port, and in Côte d'Ivoire hundreds of containers are accumulating at the port of Abidjan, where cotton is sometimes blocked for two or three months, with some traders reporting contract cancellations by Indian buyers. Participants also noted that Brazil has increased its presence in Bangladesh, while the franc zone's cotton market share fell from 40% to 28%.
Why it matters: The port congestion and Brazil's market gains bear on the briefing's trade and supply-chain theme, since African exporters' capacity to regain lost market share depends on transport times returning to normal.