Conference and Jubilee Inspire the Branch

“We can be proud of the result of our recent International Cotton Conference. It was accompanied this time by the celebrations of the 150th birthday and, as another highlight, a cotton exhibition at the Bremen Übersee-Museum. The conference originated from a meeting of laboratory managers for cotton quality testing in 1965 and has now developed into an important exchange platform for participants from the entire textile supply chain,” emphasises Stephanie Silber, President of the Bremen Cotton Exchange and Managing Director of the cotton trading company Otto Stadtlander GmbH. “The joint planning and implementation of the International Cotton Conference by the Bremen Fibre Institute and the Bremen Cotton Exchange has always been an example of how science and practice can complement and benefit from each other. This becomes clear once more in the compilation of the conference programme and the many expert meetings on the fringes of the conference,” says Prof. Dr. Axel Herrmann for the Bremen Fibre Institute (FIBRE).

Embedded in the celebrations marking the 150th birthday of the Bremen Cotton Exchange, the 36th International Cotton Conference under the motto “Cotton Decoded” took place on September 29 and 30. It is the first of its kind offered in hybrid format. Participation in the conference was possible in presence on site in Bremen as well as online. Far more than 400 experts and interested parties from almost 40 countries discussed current questions around cotton in Bremen. Many visitors met already in the run-up to the conference at the “Cotton made in Africa” stakeholder meeting that was also held in Bremen.

The Conference Location

This time, the venue of the 36th International Cotton Conference Bremen was listed building of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce directly on the market square and in the vicinity of the Cotton Exchange. The Chamber of Commerce has represented the interests of Bremen´s trade since 1451, to which the Bremen Cotton Exchange Association has belonged since its foundation in 1872.

The Programme

The International Cotton Conference was opened on the morning of September 29 with speeches by Stephanie Silber, President of the Bremen Cotton Exchange, by Prof. Dr. Axel Herrmann, Director of the Bremen Fibre Institute, and by the host, Eduard Dubbers-Albrecht, President of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce. The programme of the International Cotton Conference consisted sessions with presentations in attendance as well as sessions that were performed exclusively online. Almost 70 speakers added to the success of the conference with their contributions. Each conference day started with keynotes in which personalities from the branch critically addressed challenges within the world economy and politics. They dealt with trends on the raw materials markets and with questions about the currently much discussed shortages in logistics, but also with the situation on the financial markets. The speakers included Colin Iles, Executive Manager, Cotton & Sugar at the internationally operating commodities trader Glencore/Viterra, Nils Haupt, Head of Communications at Hapag-Lloyd AG, John Baffes, commodities expert at the World Bank, D.C., and Jörg de Vries-Hippen, Chief Investment Officer and member of the European Executive Committee of Alliance Global Investors.

Sustainability and Climate Protection

In the field of climate protection, the ability of the cotton plant to store carbon in the soil in a climate-neutral manner played a special role. The session illustrated the methods used in agriculture to improve the storage of carbon in the soil and the legal framework that enables the financing of investments in these methods. Life cycle assessment methods play an important role here in order to show the entire carbon footprint over the life of the product from the field to its disposal. 

Circular Economy, Transparency and Traceability, Cotton Quality

In addition, the conference dealt with processes of the circular economy, in which modern methods of textile recycling were the focus. The biodegradability of cotton also played a key role once more. The conference addressed questions of transparency and traceability within the supply chain and presented efficient, digitally managed control methods, e.g. by means of distributed ledger technology. Using isotope analysis, it could soon be possible to trace the origin of a cotton fibre harvested from the field back to a finished textile.