On the initiative of the Cotton Council International (CCI), the US trade association for US cotton and cotton products, the import of cotton from the US to Bangladesh will become easier and cheaper again in the future.
Previously, a regulation in Bangladesh had required all US cotton imports into Bangladesh to be fumigated to prevent the survival of a notorious cotton pest: the weevil. This destroys the cotton bolls and caused serious economic damage in the cotton-growing regions of the southern United States in the 20th century. A large-scale control program has been running in the USA since 1978, which has enabled the resumption of cotton cultivation in many regions.
This regulation and thus an important obstacle to the export of US cotton to Bangladesh has now been overturned.
The decision by the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce to repeal fumigation regulations comes after six Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture delegation members participated in a CCI-sponsored cotton trip to the United States coordinated with the National Cotton Council (NCC). The delegation learned why US cotton bales do not harbor live weevils and received an overview of the US cotton industry’s successful program to eradicate the weevil, as well as modern cotton harvesting and standardized ginning methods.
Bangladesh is currently the second largest cotton importer in the world, according to the May 2023 global market analysis by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) Dhaka office. Although some of Bangladesh’s cotton is produced domestically, it accounts for only 1 percent or less of total demand.
Bangladesh was one of the top ten export markets for US cotton in 2022, with exports worth US$477.07 million.