Thailand will import an estimated 460,000 tonnes of cotton in the 2005/06 marketing year, an increase of about 30,000 tonnes from the previous year, a US Agriculture Department attache said on Friday. "Import demand for US cotton is forecast to continue its increasing trend," a USDA attache with the US embassy in Bangkok said in the report dated May 18 and released on Friday. "Despite the emergence of Brazilian cotton imports, US cotton is expected to maintain its dominant market share in Thailand, around 30 percent of total import demand, due to its high standard and wide range of staple lengths available," the report said. "Spinning mills producing premium cotton yarn reportedly depend on the US for up to around half of total cotton use in order to ensure yarn quality."
Attache reports are not official USDA data. Thailand's demand for imports surged in the 2004/05 marketing year to an estimated 430,000 tonnes to supply the growing textile industry, it said.
"Thai textile export potential will likely be better, as Chinese textile export prospects will be limited by importers' anticipated safeguard measures," the attache report said.
Thai textile makers have been pressing their government to speed up negotiations for a free trade pact with Washington to broaden their sales in the United States.
On Friday, China said it would increase tariffs on a range of textile exports in the face of a growing trade dispute with the United States and the European Union. The United States has responded to a sharp rise in imports of Chinese textiles by imposing emergency limits on trousers, underwear, shirts and yarn.
The attache report noted that demand for premium US cotton is expected to grow as Thai textile makers shift to the medium- and high-end markets, leaving the low-end market to lower cost Chinese products.
In the 2003/04 marketing year, Thailand imported about 366,665 tonnes of cotton, the report said.
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