Cotton makes a comeback

TURNAROUND: RETAILERS COMMIT TO ORDERS

If all the cotton in the supply chain is expressed in T-shirts, the industry’s producing R2.4 billion worth of T-shirts p.a. The 2018 target is R4.2 billion p.a.

The demise of the cotton industry along with the rest of the SA textile industry due to cheap, Eastern imports has been well documented. In the late 1980s SA produced about 80 000 tons of cotton; by 2013 it was only 5 200 tons.

The turnaround has however started and is gathering momentum, with a harvest of 17 000 tons this year, and 40 000 tons projected for next year.

Local beneficiation has grown from 7% in 2013 to 42%. The turnaround already benefits the whole supply chain from farmer to retailers.

It’s a direct result of the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Clothing & Textiles Competitiveness Programme (CTCP). It started in 2013 when the dti approved a plan, submitted on behalf of Cotton SA, to fund an industry forum representing role players in the textile industry, says Heinrich Schultz, Sustainable Cotton Cluster spokesperson.

The cluster is the first in the SA textile industry that operates nationally. It aims to create an enabling environment along the whole supply chain for the entire industry to grow.

Stakeholders include suppliers of agricultural inputs, small-scale and commercial farmers, agro-processors, textile and clothing manufacturers, retailers and consumers.

The cluster’s able to obtain a legal commitment from retailers to buy the cotton fibre 12-18 months in advance.

On this basis, the whole supply chain is contracted right back to the farmer, who has a buyer for his product before he has planted or completed his harvest.

The cluster has so far concluded 11 such integrated supply chain programmes and has contracts with Mr Price, Ackermans, Woolworths and Edcon..