The spearhead of sustainable raw materials will nearly double its production levels from ten years ago by 2021, the Textile Exchange predicts in its annual Textile Exchange Organic Cotton Market Report.

Organic cotton continues to explode. Despite being in the eye of the hurricane in the last year due to the falsification of certifications and the Xinjiang scandal, where a large part of China’s cotton comes from, fashion continues to place organic cotton as the spearhead of its commitment to raw materials ” more sustainable ”. This year alone, world production will skyrocket 48% to nearly 400,000 tonnes, according to data from the Textile Exchange.

In 2020, world organic cotton production was almost 250,000 tonnes, 10,000 more than the previous year. Fiber has been in uninterrupted growth for four years, and made its biggest jump in ten years in 2019, with 239,787 tonnes. Despite the positive trend, organic cotton does not make up 1% of world cotton production.

India is crowned as the queen of fiber production, accounting for 50% of the total production with 124,244 tons of organic cotton in 2020. This grew by 1.3%, while the rest of the certified sustainable productions increased by 19% . 2% of all cotton in the country is organic.

China and Kyrgyzstan ranked second, each accounting for 12% of total global organic cotton production. India will also be the leader of the 2021 production increase, according to the Textile Exchange report, followed by Turkey.

Tanzania and Kyrgyzstan were positioned in 2020 as the two countries with the highest increase in their volume of organic cotton production, followed by Uganda, the United States and Pakistan. China, marked by the Xinjiang scandal, was the only territory that reduced its production in the period, although it remained the second largest producer.

The organization Global Organic Textile Standard (Gots), one of the most relevant standards in organic fibers in the textile industry, registered a 34% increase in organic cotton certifications in the year. Organic Blended Content Standard (OCS), increased these by 40%.

The Textile Exchange’s Organic Cotton Market Report analyzes the world production of organic cotton in the last fifteen years, and qualifies as organic only cotton officially certified as such by institutions outside the production.

Source: Modaes