Cotton industry has to alter marketing strategies to catch up with the growing man-made fiber industry, said an expert at the recently concluded 17th Australian Cotton Conference.
The conference held earlier this month, as a joint endeavor by Cotton Australia and Australian Cotton Shippers Association, gave a good perspective into how cotton industry needs to compete with man-made fibers.
Richard Haire, non-executive Director in Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), present at the Cotton Conference said that in this dynamic world, cotton industry needs to find new methods to catch up with the growing synthetic fiber industries. He said with a market share of one-third of the total textiles, cotton industry needs to buck up in competition to synthetic fiber industries.
He said one of the reasons why synthetic fibers are taking over cotton is synthetic fibers are made in factories using latest technology and novel techniques, unlike cotton produced in a paddock. He also said that cotton industry is constrained by a certain pattern of marketing, whereas synthetic fibers are open to exploring new methods, and hence, are more customer-centric.
Using intelligent advertising and engineering methods, synthetic industries are producing artificial cotton fibers. The cotton industry should now learn from synthetic industries and re-evaluate its marketing policies. Newer options in place of cotton fibers are gaining importance, with advanced qualities.
He said from the point of view of survival in the market, we need to start having a direct contact with customer to understand their needs, like synthetic industries whole manage short supply chains.
At the conference, Gary Sandell, representing the National Center for Engineering in Agriculture, suggested that one of the fastest and simplest ways to increase profits and produce better quality cotton would be using energy efficient methods in production. He suggested the use of alternative sources of energy such as wind, solar and biofuels.
