#Raw Materials

2024-02-08

Focus on the International Cotton Industry

(c) 2024 Nick Robinson - Cotton Australia

The International Cotton Conference starts in Bremen in just a few weeks. With approximately 400 people attending, for the 37th time the Hanseatic city of Bremen will become a focal point for today’s global cotton industry and its supply chain, from cotton cultivation through to the end product.

Delegates will be evenly split across the areas of cotton farming, processing, retail and the textile trade, industry service providers and, as always, research. The conference is being organised by the Bremen Cotton Exchange and Fibre Institute Bremen.

This year, the venue is not the historic Town Hall, but the city’s modern parliament building, known as the Haus der Bürgerschaft, right next to the Bremen Cotton Exchange.

Reflecting on the state of the supply chain as part of eleven sessions with informative lectures and first-rate discussion groups, the conference will cover a range of topics offering an insight into the current situation in the industry, while focusing on the challenges and presenting forward-looking solution models.

Cotton is cultivated in around 80 countries worldwide, covering everything from small-scale farming to industrial structures. A large part of these are developing countries in which agriculture is still the main source of income for many people. Anyone who is or would like to be involved in the global cotton industry, simply must have knowledge of the economic and structural relationships of the trade in individual countries.

What is meant by progressive cotton production?

A more focused look at the considerable progress being made in the development of cotton farming in growth regions will be provided by four informative lectures, including a session on Cotton Production in Growing Regions.

USA: David Albers, Bayer USA, will inform attendees about significant developments in the use of various genetically modified types of cotton in the US in the period from 2008 to 2022. The focus will be on analysing the progress in relation to fibre length. This is a key factor for the manufacture of high-quality yarns in the spinning mills.

China: Jingyan Wei from the Cotton Research Institute at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Anyang, will present the results of tests on various types of cotton in the form of 266 samples taken from the country’s main cotton growing regions. These were analysed using various test methods with regard to quality standards such as spinnability, uniformity of length, and strength. The findings confirmed that the quality of the samples met with the expectations of China’s spinning sector.

Uzbekistan: Rinat Gulyaev from the Cotton Science and Innovation Centre in Tashkent will speak about the extensive transformation of the Uzbek cotton sector as the basis of an ambitious textile export strategy. This includes the use of a monitoring system to check the growth process of seed cotton and the introduction of drip irrigation systems, as well as advanced developments in the field of organic agriculture and an increase in the use of machine harvesting. Also noteworthy are the investments in new instruments for testing cotton quality, and mechanisms for raw material traceability.

Greece: Chris Cavalaris from the University of Thessaly in Volos and Maria Stenull from the BASF Sustainability Team will report on findings from a pilot project on regenerative cultivation practices for sustainable and traceable cotton production in Greece. The University of Thessaly worked with selected Greek cotton farmers from three growing regions and the agricultural division of BASF to implement regenerative methods for producing certified, non-genetically modified cotton. This focused on comparing conventional farming with regenerative methods in relation to their life cycle analysis. During the conference, findings will be presented on developments regarding CO2 footprint, yields and other parameters between 2022 and 2023.

Online access to the cotton conference

Delegates who will not be travelling to Bremen and have therefore opted to participate online may follow the conference on the tried and tested online platform. Here, all participants will have access to every conference session, break-out session, and poster presentation. Those attending the conference in person will also be able to watch the sessions online and use the variety of networking tools available.

The Bremen Cotton Exchange team will provide detailed information about other programme topics at the International Cotton Conference in further press releases in the run-up to the conference. All information is regularly updated and can be found on the conference website at www.cotton-conference-bremen.de.

Registration is now open

Participants can register easily at any time online at https://cotton-conference-bremen.de/registration/

Modern testing methods for raw cotton

The 38th International Cotton Conference Bremen will take place from 25 to 27 March 2026 at the Bremen Parliament. This conference has traditionally stood for in-depth expertise and international exchange. The program will focus on technical innovations, market trends, and regulatory frameworks across the entire value chain – from agriculture to the circular economy. With high-profile speakers, the conference is regarded as the key meeting point for the global cotton industry. Today’s focus: Cotton quality and testing methods.

Modern testing methods for raw cotton

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