#Raw Materials

2020-05-06

ICAC makes ‘Cotton This Month’ free to all for three months due to pandemic

As part of its Covid-19-focussed communications strategy, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is making one of its flagship publications, Cotton This Month, free to all for the months of May, June and July. It includes the major report, which is released the first business day of each month, as well as the mid-month update.

The ICAC, recognising the serious threat to the global cotton supply chain, is foregoing the revenue from the publication because the organisation believes it’s more important to keep all cotton and textile stakeholders informed and connected.

‘Once the world gets the coronavirus under control, the cotton and textile industries will face the serious challenge of restarting their stalled global supply chains’, said ICAC Executive Director Kai Hughes.

‘To minimise the suffering of so many vulnerable people, we will need to be ready to get back to work as quickly and safely as possible — and that can only happen if all stakeholders stay informed and connected throughout the crisis. Making some of our information free will help stakeholders make informed strategic decisions to ensure that happens’.

Other initiatives in the ICAC’s Covid-19 communications strategy are:

A video interview series called ‘Cotton Connects’, in which the ICAC Secretariat interviews global cotton and textile industry leaders to get advice and updates;

A Twitter campaign to publicly recognise those global brands and retailers that are meeting their responsibilities by paying for, or agreeing to pay for, all orders that have been completed or are under construction; and

Driving and coordinating global support for the much-anticipated World Cotton Day on 7 October 2020, in which individuals, associations and businesses will celebrate and show their support for cotton, the world’s most important natural fibre.

To access ‘Cotton This Month’, please click here:

https://www.icac.org/Publications?MenuId=41

To view the Cotton Connects series of video interviews, please click here:

https://www.icac.org/News/NewsDetails?NewsId=2332&YearId=2020

To learn more about World Cotton Day, please lick here:

https://www.icac.org/Home/WorldCottonDay?MenuId=71

Organic cotton at the crossroads: Ideology, evidence, and the road ahead

Organic cotton occupies one of the most contentious spaces in global agriculture. While praised by brands and consumers for its environmental ideals, it also faces persistent questions about yield stability, certification integrity, and scalability. The current edition of The ICAC Recorder cuts through the ideology to deliver a rigorous, evidence-based assessment of both sides of the debate.

Dr N Vigneshwaran is named 2026 ICAC Researcher of the Year

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is pleased to announce the selection of Dr N Vigneshwaran, Principal Scientist and Head of the Chemical and Biochemical Processing Division at the ICAR–Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (ICAR-CIRCOT), Mumbai, India, as the ICAC Researcher of the Year 2026.

AMSilk and Ajinomoto Foods Europe expand partnership to enable industrial-scale production of silk proteins

AMSilk GmbH (“AMSilk”), a global leader leader in biotech produced silk materials, today announced a significant expansion of its partnership with Ajinomoto Foods Europe (AFE), marking a key step in scaling the industrial production of its silk proteins. Building on the collaboration first established in 2023, the two companies have now entered into a long-term manufacturing and supply agreement, enabling the transition from industrial validation to dedicated, large-scale production.

Cotton made in Africa partners receive top marks in independent verifications

Cotton made in Africa® (CmiA) and CmiA Organic are two internationally recognised standards that aim to promote sustainable development in the African cotton sector south of the Sahara. To ensure the standards’ credibility among brands, retailers, and consumers, independent verifiers evaluate compliance on the ground. The verification results for 2025, now published in the Aggregated Verification & Implementation Report, were very strong: The verifiers awarded consistently very good remarks regarding management, people, prosperity, and the environment.

Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brings supply chain leaders together around cotton innovation

Cotton Incorporated’s Cotton ConneXions Insight to Impact brought together more than 300 industry leaders from 140 companies across 10 countries, including more than 45 top global brands and sourcing organizations, underscoring strong global interest in cotton-rich product development, sourcing and supply chain collaboration.

Bremen Cotton Exchange: Fritz A. Grobien re-elected as President

The members of the Bremen Cotton Exchange have re-elected Fritz A. Grobien as President during the association’s 152nd General Assembly on June 18, 2026. The election confirms the organization’s commitment to maintaining its role as a leading international platform for the cotton and fiber industry amid a period of geopolitical and economic uncertainty.

Ence and ShareTex begin initial testing of the ATENEA innovation project to promote textile recycling in Spain

Ence and ShareTex are making progress on the Atenea R&D project, which aims to develop a complete value chain for textile recycling in Spain. Specifically, the goal of the ATENEA project—which is funded by the Center for Technological Development and Innovation (CDTI)—is to connect all the necessary stages for the recovery of textile waste, from collection and management, through recycling and transformation into new raw materials, to their incorporation into new textile products.

DePoly Inaugurates its Showcase Plant in Monthey Switzerland

What if used plastic bottles, PET packaging material and polyester textiles could become raw materials just as high performing as virgin resources? That is the ambition of DePoly, a circular materials company based in Sion, Switzerland which inaugurated its Showcase Plant in Monthey on July 6th & 7th. The first depolymerization facility of its kind and scale in Switzerland, this industrial Showcase Plant represents a major milestone in the company's growth and its journey toward commercialization.

Commission clarifies rules on plastic bottles recycling

The European Commission today adopted new rules on recycling of single-use plastic beverage bottles made primarily of polyethylene terephthalate (PET bottles). These rules establish, for the first time, a methodology to calculate, verify and report chemically recycled content. This is part of the Commission’s December 2025 plastics package.