Gazi Anowarul Hoque :
A two-day World Cotton Outlook Summit-2016 is scheduled to begin from 27 April at Westin Hotel in the city with an aim to improve relations between buyers and suppliers of the product.
The summit is the only platform in Bangladesh dedicated to provide the latest updates and industry trends of the country, while promoting direct linkages between cotton producers and ginners with local textile Millers.
Organizers expects that 150 plus key cotton players from across the world, 80 percent representing senior decision makers, 40 percent representing Bangladesh Textile Mills and Cotton buyers, Plus a great mixture of sugar policy makers, traders and financers will gather in the summit.
They said that more than 150 participants from across the world will participate in it. “It is unparalleled networking Opportunities with Bangladesh buyers and textile millers,” they said.
It would be a trade and business partnerships with local importers and end users Policy updates, latest trends and future developments for Bangladesh market.
Global markets and price round up information and Industry insights from other major markets including India, China and Uzbekistan will attend the summit.
Besides there will be networking Icebreakers and One on One meetings over the two days event.
Tapan Chowdhury, President of BTMA, the Bangladesh Textile Millers Association; Mehdi Ali, CEO Mas-Cot International- Textile Company and General Secretary, BCA Bangladesh Cotton Association; Sandeep Hota, Senior Vice President (Cotton Division) Olam International Ltd.; Vinay Kotak, Director Kotak Commodities & Director, CAI, the Cotton Association of India; Deepak Agrawal Chief Operating Officer Agrocorp; Pathik Patel Managing Director Basil Commodities will attend at the opening ceremony of the event.
“Bangladesh is now the world’s second largest exporter of apparel, behind China. Much of Bangladesh’s apparel export is fuelled by cotton sourced from India. Now, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has decided to scale up its exports to Bangladesh,” Tapan Chowdhury told the New Nation on Tuesday.
After a hugely successful Asia Cotton Outlook in Vietnam, IBC is proud to present the first ever ‘World Cotton Outlook’ Summit in Dhaka.
Supported and Co Hosted by the Bangladesh Textile Millers Association (BTMA), the conference will bring together top decision makers from local buyers, sellers, traders and major industry players on a single platform to discuss strategies and solutions for the cotton market.
“Buyers make short-weight and quality claims against the supplied cotton while sellers complain about late LC opening. As huge sums of money are involved with all these allegations, the relation between them becomes worse,” said BTMA president Tapan Chowdhury.
Bangladesh is not a cotton growing country but has a spinning industry which has developed a lot, he said.
The country’s spinning mills have to import about 90 percent of its cotton demand, but the whole demand of yarns is met locally, Tapan said.
According to BTMA data, Bangladesh is the second largest cotton importing country and the import has seen a 65pc growth in last one decade.
In the 2005, the import of cotton was 3m bale which rose to 5.5bn in 2014.
Bangladesh has set a target to earn $50bn from the textile and clothing sector.
“It is possible, but to achieve this target, we have to ensure uninterrupted supply chain of fabrics and yarn,” BTMA president emphasised.
“Supply chain of cotton, the main raw material of fabrics, is also very important, and the summit will help in this regard,” he added.
The organisers said the cotton suppliers and buyers will engagein disputes because of problems related to weight, quality and LC opening. Such disputes led to the souring of relations between the parties. The organisers hope the summit will help better the prevailing situation.
