Cotton Council International (CCI) held its second COTTON USA Sourcing Fair in Hong Kong from March 7-10. The Fair promotes U.S. cotton fiber and cotton yarns as key ingredients in manufacturing high quality textile products and to provide sourcing assistance for companies throughout the entire cotton supply chain. The event brought together some 270 participants from 19 countries, including garment and fabric manufacturers, yarn mills, brands and retailers. Buyers and sellers of U.S. cotton-rich textiles held more than 1,400 meetings over the two-day period.
“The COTTON USA Sourcing Fair in Hong Kong gave mills, manufacturers, brands and retailers—with a huge global sales network—a closer look at U.S. cotton fiber, its sustainable production, and our industry’s commitment to quality cotton, as well as for attendees to build important business relationships throughout the supply chain,” said CCI First Vice President Ted Schneider. “COTTON USA is the cotton the world trusts because our family farmers constantly use and pursue the latest innovations and technologies to deliver uniform, consistent, sustainable and contamination-free cotton for less downtime, more productivity and superior quality yarn, fabric and products.”
Initial survey results show that participants distributed approximately 640 samples as a result of meetings held during the COTTON USA Sourcing Fair, which could directly lead to U.S. cotton sales. Some 90% of respondents anticipate doing business with companies they met at the fair, indicative of the quality of the business meetings that CCI arranged. The influential participants have a huge global sales network and annually purchase over 3 billion yards of fabric.
Participants included 41 yarn suppliers, 89 fabric suppliers, 73 garment suppliers and 63 brands/retailers from the following countries: Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.
Keynote speakers during the event included: Bruce Atherley, CCI Executive Director; Schneider, CCI First Vice President; and Jonathan Fee, Partner at Alston & Bird. CCI was honored with a guest appearance by U.S. Consul General for Hong Kong and the Director of the USDA Agricultural Trade Office in Hong Kong.