Global Demand for Cotton Declines Due to COVID-19 Crisis

The rapid spread of COVID-19 has severely affected the global demand for cotton, the University of Georgia (UGA) reported. Cotton is one of the major crops produced worldwide and also ranks as the third most planted biotech crop in 2018 based on global area.

The forecast for 2020's world cotton consumption decreased significantly by 6.4% in April compared to March. This was evident in the cotton mill use across all of the major cotton spinning countries such as China, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, and Vietnam. In China, the spinning industry has started to recover but it is not expected to go back to normal in the current year because of the anticipation of a decline in consumer consumption of apparel.