The Future of High Quality & Branded Cotton, a report from FCStone Fibers & Textiles, examines the possibility that global production of the highest quality cotton, extra long staple (ELS), is declining due to the progress of long staple (LS) cotton in becoming the dominant quality of cotton produced today. The report focuses in particular on China, India, the USA and Egypt.

Additionally, the study explores the rise of new, branded varieties of LS cotton which have:

• helped to raise the overall level of cotton quality globally;
• prompted a decline in the production of Pima and other ELS varieties; and
• reduced the share of the traditional lower end of the market, generic upland cotton.

FCStone Fibers & Textiles has observed:

• a major shift away from ELS in favour of LS cotton in China’s top cotton-producing province of Xinjiang;
• US Pima acreage rapidly disappearing; and
• a 50% reduction in Egypt’s production of ELS cotton.

All this signals significant changes for merchants, mills and retailers and how cotton is marketed and utilized throughout the entire textile supply chain.