AFRICAN COTTON PROMOTION
Partnership Development –Linking East and Southern African Ginners to the Market and Building Relationships with Spinners
Financed by the EU under EDF 10
3 Major Messages
• In order to improve quality and achieve better prices close linkages with spinners are essential; this in turn will also increase quantity.
• Selected (preferred) spinners are willing to invest in long-term relationships built on transparency and mutual trust
• Win – win situation: improved quality, long-term “guaranteed” client/supplier and better prices
EU - EDF 10 Cotton project objectivesContributing to sustainable improvements of quality, value
addition and overall competitiveness of African cotton
3 Result Areas: a) COMESA regional strategy and focal point (ITC);b) Institutional Strengtheningc) Production (FAO) and promotion (ITC) of African quality
cotton2 Areas of intervention:African Cotton PromotionValue addition through low capital-intensive cotton
transformation technologies, including handloom development
Value Addition
• Low capital-intensive fibre transformation technologies, including handloom development
• South-south cooperation with India and Ethiopia• Pilot activities in Zambia and Burkina Faso
Cotton Promotion
• Marketing and cotton promotion in selected major markets
• Partnership development between ginners and spinners: establishment of feedback loops with cotton buyers (spinning mills) for quality feedback & improvement
• Reduction of cotton contamination and overall improvement of cotton quality, leading to improved prices.
5 step approach to building partnerships with spinners
1. Identifying market & buyer requirements and marketing opportunities
2. Engaging with the client: promotional visit to preferred spinners
3. Improving on cotton quality: reducing contamination in partnerships with clients
4. Marketing your improved cotton quality in the market5. Forge and strengthen partnerships & expand the approach
to new ginners, markets, and spinners.
Step 1: Identifying buyer requirements and marketing opportunities, Preparation workshop, Lusaka – Zambia• A spinner and cotton trader from Bangladesh provided insights
on the growth dynamics of Bangladesh cotton imports.
• Bangladesh imported 593,773 MT of cotton lint in 2012, of which 84,7 MT (14%) from Africa, ranking 3rd largest supplier after Uzbekistan (31%) and India (22%).
• Discussions on spinner’s quality standards and requirements with regard to acceptable fiber quality parameters and levels of contamination.
2. Step: Promotional mission Thailand
• 11th largest cotton consumer in the world. In 2012, Thailand imported 308,000 MT of lint of which Africa’s share accounted for 34,000 MT or 11%.
• Visit to spinning factories and knitting & dyeing factory.
• Awareness and knowledge of strict quality requirements & parameters and maximum acceptable contamination levels (less than 5 pieces/100 kg).
• Identification of preferred spinners
… and Bangladesh• Visit of 3 large spinning factories in Bangladesh
• Meetings with key members of the Bangladesh Textile Mills Association (BTMA) and the Bangladesh Cotton Association (BCA)
• Meetings with cotton agents, spinners and traders with interest in closer collaboration
• Identification of preferred spinners
• Meetings resulted in trial orders
3. Step Contamination reduction training by preferred Thai and Bangladeshi spinners
• Training on contamination reduction techniques and procedures at gin and buying post level
• Original objective was to train 2 major cotton processing plants in the Mwanza - Shinyanga region of Tanzania.
• An additional 20 ginneries were trained at the request of TCB
• A total of 1786 cotton gin workers, supervisors as well as farmers were trained, of which 273 women
• Training film realized
Contamination Reduction Training – Tanzania• The training program covered all aspects of production chain
that can contribute to cotton quality improvement
– Transport
– Packaging materials
– Manual sorting of cotton
– Avoiding sources of contamination such as old clothing, bags, plastics, etc.
– Mechanical cleaning: sieving, lint pre-cleaning and cleaning machines
Contamination Reduction Training – Tanzania
Manual removal of contaminations
Modern mechanical cleaning of lint
Sieving to remove sand Torn clothing as source of contamination
Contamination Reduction Training – Tanzania
Old equipmentUse of old, torn, jute bags Polypropylene bags assource of contamination
Workers examining examplesof contaminations and their effect on clothing quality
Examples of contamination
Contamination Reduction Training – Tanzania
• Final review meeting with Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB), including ginners and cotton inspectors
• Planning of post-training quality control measures that are sustainable and effective
• Improvements achieved in Afrisian and other ginners to encourage other ginners to follow suite
• TCB to follow-up and check on quality improvements
4. Step: Client feedback on the delivered bales & enhanced marketing
• First-hand quality feedback: for pilot sales realised ginners will be present during spinning of “their cotton”
• Revisiting Thailand and Bangladesh; training of ginning technicians in spinning factories
• Negotiation of additional contracts• Relationship building for next season• Marketing to other spinners in Thailand and Bangladesh
5. Step: Expanding to new markets & ginners
• Identifying additional preferred spinners (in Africa & Asia)
• Moving towards new markets: Indonesia & Vietnam & Africa
• Engaging more interested ginners to join the programme
• Learning from 5 star rated Indian ginneries• Additional recommendations
How to Join
• Strong commitment to improve quality through partnership development
• Willingness to cover own air-ticket and hotel accommodation
• Willingness to accommodate incoming spinners• Signing a letter of agreement & conducting progress
surveys
Our Experiences so far in West/Central Africa• Selected countries: Benin, Chad, Mali, Senegal,
Burkina Faso• Promotion through traders• Much advanced in contamination reduction• Have some promotional tools already in place (film,
map, etc.)
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