Milestone for cotton sector
New program to counter foreign crackdown
The China Cotton Association ( CCA), along with other industry organizations, officially launched the Cotton China Sustainable Development Program on Thursday, aiming to build a homegrown independent sustainable standard and certification system to counter the West’s dominance that has posed serious threat on China’s cotton industry.
The move marks a milestone in overhauling the global cotton rulemaking system, which is currently monopolized by the Better Cotton Initiative ( BCI), a West- led industry body that has apparently been manipulated by some anti- China forces in their slandering against China and its policies in Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
The BCI suspended cotton licenses for Xinjiang companies several months ago, which led to a sharp plunge in the region’s cotton exports after boycotts by several global fashion brands.
Industry insiders said that the establishment of the new program will allow China – the world’s largest cotton consumer – hold a significant saying in international pricing and standard- setting, and more importantly, lend it a tool to reasonably defend itself and protect its legitimate interests against Western political crackdowns.
The program is designed to promote the high- quality and sustainable development of China’s cotton industry based on the core concept of “environmental friendly, excellent quality, respect for labor and fully traceable.” It will facilitate the consumption of homegrown cotton and expand the global market share of Chinese cotton.
Gao Fang, chairman of the CCA, said during a launch event in Suzhou, East China’s Jiangsu Province, that under the program, the CCA will also commence evaluation work on cotton producers, and push forward the mutual recognition between Chinese standards and international standards.
“We had already begun the work, but the BCI’s [ license suspension in April] further raised the urgency and sped up the process. All industry bodies have been uniting to help promote Chinese cotton, to make us less constrained by [ other nations],” Wang Jiandong, vice chairman and secretary general of the CCA, told the Global Times after the launch event on Thursday.
“Why does the BCI’s license have such a global influence? And why China – as the world’s largest cotton consumption country and the world’s second- largest cotton producer – has a limited saying in trade practices in international sphere? We should reverse this situation,” Wang said.
Industry insiders noted that the ultimate goal of the program is to challenge the BCI’s rules, reduce reliance on Western standards, and promote the China- developed sustainable cotton standard in the world.
Industry participants also criticized NGOs and Western economies for using political agenda to disrupt the global supply chain in the cotton industry and hurt the interests of Xinjiang cotton farmers and global consumers.