RADIANTE
Brilliant
Quadrodeofertaedemandadoalgodão–Brasil
Safra
Estoqueinicial
Produção Importação Suprimento
Consumo
Exportação Estoquefinal
2014/15
438,5
1.562,8
2,1
2.003,4
820,0
834,3
349,1
2015/16
349,1
1.288,8
25,0
1.662,9
720,0
780,0
232,9
2016/17
162,9
1.413,7
30,0
1.606,6
750,0
680,0
176,6
Fonte:Conab,dezembrode2016.
QUALITY
Abrapa president, Arlindo de AzevedoMoura, maintains that Brazil used to produce “commodity cotton”, of good quality, selling it with-
out converting the good characteristics into value. “Over thepast five years, we startedadding value, complyingwith the 12 classifyingqual-
ity items, such as long fiber, fineness and color. It made us produce the second-best cotton in the world, coming only after Australia”, he re-
calls. The target for the next years is to intensify fiber separation per quality, making average prices soar and meeting the needs of better
remuneratingmarket niches. The recently inauguratedBrazilian Reference Center in Cotton Analysis (CBRA) will play an important role.
Optimistic, Azevedo Moura bets on a possible resumption of market growth, provided by the drop in global stocks and soaring inter-
national consumption. For the first time since 2009, consumption will outstrip production. According to the International Cotton Adviso-
ry Committee (Icac), the global production of cotton lint in the 2016/17 growing season will soar 6%, to 22.5million tons.
Global consumption is projected at 24.2 million tons, up only 1%, but translating into 1.7 million tons above production, which will
partly decrease the global stocks. With the economic crisis and receding consumption around the planet, global demand in the past two
growing seasons was smaller, especially because China purchased less cotton and the price of polyester, major competitor among syn-
thetic fibers, dropped. A recovery of crude oil prices – rawmaterial for synthetic fiber -, along with the smaller ending stocks could bene-
fit cotton farming greatly. “We are ready to take this opportunity as early as 2017”, Azevedo Moura states.
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