Over the years, there has been a sharp decline in imports of cotton made by Russia and Japan, which were the world's leading cotton importers in 1990. In 2012, China and Bangladesh were the world's top importers of cotton, while Russia and Japan slid to 13th and 15th places, as per a report "Global Cotton Supply & End Use Demand: Trends & Forecasts 2013" prepared by the Market Watch division of Fibre2fashion.com. According to the report, Russia accounted for 17.3 percent share in world's cotton imports in 1990, which fell to 1.33 percent in 2012. Similarly, Japan's share dropped from 9.64 percent in 1990 to 0.84 percent share in 2012. In comparison, China's share in global cotton imports shot up from mere 7.21 percent in 1990 to 30.49 percent in 2012.
Bangladesh, Turkey and Pakistan were not among the top 15 cotton importers in the world in 1990, but cotton imports by these nations have grown considerably and they occupied the second, third and fourth positions, respectively, in 2012. Region-wise, South Asia, North America and Caribbean nations increased their import of cotton between 1990 and 2012. Most importantly, the share of South Asian region has grown from a meagre 1.76 percent in 1990 to a whopping 18.84 percent in 2012. On the other hand, the EU-25 region witnessed a sharp decline in cotton imports from a 21.42 percent of world share in 1990 to 10.88 percent in 2012. Click here for more information about the report.
