Organic Cotton Market Report 2019 Covering production trends and initiative updates from the 2017/18 harvest year. Welcome to the 2019 Organic Cotton Market Report In 2019, we are at the dawn of an By eliminating the use of synthetic fertilizers incredibly important decade. We hear and pesticides and building soil fertility, One of the most striking images of this year’s UN Climate Summit world leaders say the next ten years will organic agriculture embeds regenerative was Greta Thunberg’s words projected onto the UN Secretariat determine our ongoing ability to sustain life and circular principles. It reduces Building in New York. One phrase – displayed around the level of on Earth, and climate data tell us we are dependencies on chemical and fossil-fuel “ the 25th floor – said: not on track to staying below 1.5 degrees based inputs and potentially plays a key temperature rise above pre-industrial role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions “We need a system change, rather than individual change – but levels. These are sobering realities and through carbon sequestration. Life Cycle you cannot have one without the other” have resulted in nothing short of a “climate Assessments show that organic agriculture emergency.” Both my sons have taken to offers a materials pathway towards And nearer to ground level: the streets during the climate strikes here science-based targets, and it offers a “We must all do the seemingly impossible. Everything needs to in the UK, joining millions of young people multitude of opportunities to contribute to change, and it has to start today” around the world who are concerned that all 17 SDGs in one way or another. their parents’ generation will not deliver the Organic production for cotton is the tip of the spear that has been United Nation’s Sustainable Development Organic cotton, alongside other organic driving change within the sector. It establishes a direction of travel land-based fibers, must be part of Goals (known as the SDGs or Global for all of us, starting with regenerative soil practices! Goals) and the “world we want” in time. the future. Organic cotton farmers, organizations, companies, and other Over the years, Textile Exchange has brought together and So how do climate action and the enablers represented in this report provide catalyzed changemakers from CottonConnect to the Chetna Sustainable Development Goals tie in to a guiding light. We are proud to bring you Coalition to the Organic Cotton Accelerator. Working together in our Organic Cotton Market Report? our 2019 Organic Cotton Market Report partnership, I really do think we can change everything, the whole and are committed to leveraging organic of us being so much more than the sum of the parts. Land use was highlighted in the latest cotton as a market-driven solution to report from the Intergovernmental Panel industry transformation and meeting the Keep the vision, build the bridges and be willing to take the on Climate Change (IPCC). Land is Global Goals. journey! both a source and a sink of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and plays a key role in the exchange of energy, water and aerosols between the land surface and atmosphere. Liesl Truscott La Rhea Pepper Land ecosystems and biodiversity are Director of Europe & Managing Director, vulnerable to ongoing climate change and Materials Strategy, Textile Exchange weather and climate extremes, to different Textile Exchange extents. Sustainable land management can contribute to reducing the negative impacts of multiple stressors, including climate change, on ecosystems and societies. Cover Page Photo: VEJA ©Charlotte Lapalus Back to Contents • 2 The year in numbers 2017/18 organic cotton production snapshot INDIA 47% 180,871 MT USA 3% ha CHINA 21% 44,394 TURKEY 6% TANZANIA 3% TANZANIA TAJIKISTAN 5% TAJIKISTAN Organic Cotton In-Transition 12% KYRGYZSTAN Fiber Land 356,131 ha Organic Certified Land1 +56% 98% GLOBAL PRODUCTION STEMS FROM over 2016/17 56% GLOBAL GROWTH IN ORGANIC COTTON JUST 7 COUNTRIES Organic Cotton Fiber 19 PRODUCTION *The remaining 12 countries are: Greece (0.5%); Uganda Countries growing (0.4%); Benin (0.4%); Burkina Faso (0.3%); Peru (0.3%); Global organic cotton production organic cotton Egypt (0.2%); Mali (0.04%); Ethiopia (0.02%); Brazil (0.01%); grew by an impressive 56 percent Senegal (0.003%); Argentina (0.001%); Thailand (0.001%) in 2017/18, well exceeding the PRODUCTION AT ITS previous year’s growth rate of 10 HIGHEST IN EIGHT YEARS percent. Estimates indicate that Production of organic cotton declined growth will continue next year, INDIA, CHINA & KYGRYZSTAN FUEL GROWTH significantly in 2010/11 in connection stemming predominantly from India, India, China and Kyrgyzstan contributed most significantly by volume to this year’s with the financial crisis. However, in Tanzania, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and global growth. This trend looks set to continue, with the same three countries having 2017/2018, organic cotton production Brazil, among others. the biggest land area in-transition to organic. reached its highest in eight years. CERTIFIED FACILITIES TOP FIVE BY TOP FIVE BY TOP FIVE BY ALSO ON THE RISE FIBER GROWTH RATE FIBER VOLUME INCREASE IN-TRANSITION LAND AREA Not only are production Argentina +300% India + 26,060 MT India 25,237 ha h 16% volumes growing, so are Kyrgyzstan +178% China + 16,138 MT Kyrgyzstan 9,100 ha the number of facilities China +71% Kyrgyzstan + 14,290 MT China 3,669 ha h 15% certified to voluntary organic Turkey +51% Turkey + 3,911 MT Turkey 2,439 ha 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 standards around the world. Peru +49% Tajikistan + 2,594 MT Tanzania 1,297 ha Back to Contents 1 Please see page 6 for explanation of land area calculations. • 3 What’s inside Welcome 2 China 27 Thailand 58 The year in numbers 3 Stakeholder directory 31 Myanmar | Pilot program 59 Pakistan | In-transition 60 Global organic cotton production 5 EMENA & Central Asia 32 Stakeholder directory 62 2017/18 overview 6 Regional updates 34 Global trends 7 Egypt 35 United States 63 Initiative insights 8 Greece 36 Regional updates 65 Achieving the SDGs through organic cotton 10 Kyrgyzstan 37 Stakeholder directory 67 Spotlight on seed 11 Tajikistan 38 Standards & Certification 68 Stakeholder directory 14 Turkey 39 Certified facilities 69 Stakeholder directory 40 Africa 15 Standards updates 70 Regional updates 17 Latin America & the Caribbean 41 Centralized Database System 71 Out of the Box: West Africa’s Cotton Trailblazers 18 Regional updates 43 Methodology & Disclaimer 72 Benin 19 Argentina 44 Burkina Faso 20 Brazil 45 Appendices 76 Ethiopia 21 Peru 48 About Textile Exchange 77 Mali 22 Haiti | Pilot program 49 Further resources 78 Senegal 23 Stakeholder directory 50 Tanzania 24 This report is interactive. Click a heading South & Southeast Asia 51 on this page to jump to that section, and Uganda 25 return here by clicking the contents icon Regional updates 53 Stakeholder directory 26 located on the bottom left of each page. India 54 Back to Contents • 4 Global organic cotton production Photo: Dinesh Khanna for C&A Foundation Back to Contents • 5 Global organic cotton production 2017/18 overview Data revisions Organic cotton data reported for 2016/17 China-NOP, EU and US-NOP certifications have been revised from 220,478 farmers, are overlapped on Chinese farms (see 472,999 ha organic certified land and China section for more detail), it is 182,876 356,131 56% 117,525 MT fiber production to 219,760 recognized that the 2016/17 data on China Organic Farmers Organic Certified Fiber Growth (MT) farmers, 472,232 ha organic certified land requires further adjustments. However, Land (ha) Over 2016/17 and 116,147 MT fiber production. These at the time of writing, there is insufficient numbers are based on correction and data to make a conclusive report. Textile updates collected in the 2019 data cycle, Exchange will continue to gain better summarized in the table below. understanding of the Chinese organic cotton production landscape for future Based on new understanding of how reports. Country Organic Farmers Organic Certified Land (ha) Organic Cotton Fiber (MT) 180,871 44,394 0.7% Reported Adjusted Reported Adjusted Reported Adjusted Organic Cotton Organic In-Transition Cotton Globally China 824 429 11,846 11,209 22,521 22,448 Fiber (MT) Land (ha) is Organic Egypt 360 20 542 411 1,742 437 Senegal 277 294 92 - 4 - This year, we have a particular reason to the 219,086 ha in transition to organic in Table 1: Revisions to 2016/17 organic cotton production data reported in the 2018 Organic Cotton Market Report. celebrate. Not only did global production 2016/17; a trend that goes hand-in-hand of organic cotton see an impressive 56 with the 56 percent growth seen in global A note on land area percent growth between 2016/17 and organic fiber production in 2017/18. 2017/18; total volumes reached the Reported land area figures refer to India, which can fetch a higher price on highest level since 2010/11, when the There were an estimated 182,876 land certified to an organic standard the market. This means that reported land financial crisis led to a dramatic decline. farmers growing certified organic cotton by a producer group growing organic area figures do not necessarily reflect the in 2017/18, spread across 19 countries. cotton. However, it’s important to note land area used to grow only organic cotton, Growth stems predominantly from India, Organic cotton was planted on 349,799 ha that the same piece of land can be, and may therefore seem disproportionately China and Kyrgyzstan, but also from of certified land. An interesting trend in India and increasingly is being, used to grow high compared to the organic cotton Turkey, Tanzania, and Tajikistan.