Brazilian cotton opens new phase with launch of the Cotton Brazil Project

Quality, traceability and sustainability. Yes, Brazilian cotton has all this and much more, and therefore promotion is important. To show the world, especially to consumers in the Asian industry, the differences of Brazilian feather, the Brazilian Association of Cotton Producers (Abrapa), the National Association of Cotton Exporters (Anea) and the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency and Investimentos (Apex-Brasil), launched, on Tuesday night (08), in a virtual event, the Cotton Brazil Project. The main objective is to place the country at the top of the global cotton export ranking by 2030, and Asia is a strategic continent, which represents more than 80% of the destination of Brazilian cotton production.

From now on, the Cotton Brazil brand will be developed in nine Asian countries to develop new businesses. The initiative brings supply and demand even closer together, with the physical presence of a representative of the producers in that market, in an Abrapa representative office in the city of Singapore. The virtual “presence” will also be important for the results that are intended to be achieved. That's why the cottonbrazil.com platform was developed, translated into the languages ​​of China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, India, Thailand and South Korea.

In the last three harvests, Brazil doubled cotton production, maintaining practically the same area; It ranked fourth as the largest fiber producer in the world, and became the second largest exporter. “These are very important brands, for us, just over 20 years ago, we were the second largest importer of cotton in the world”, highlighted the president of Abrapa, Milton Garbugio, during the opening of the event, accompanied by the current vice-president, Júlio Cézar Busato, who will lead the entity in the next two years. “We have a better quality product. We just need to show the world. And, to this end, we will carry out a great deal of image positioning work, in the main markets. It won't be easy, but we have already taken the first step towards what I call a new phase of Brazilian cotton”, said Busato.

In the opinion of Abrapa's director of International Relations, Marcelo Duarte, Brazil must strengthen its position in the global commodity market. “Our task now is to consolidate a brand to unify the narrative of the quality of Brazilian cotton. We want to increase our exports and increase the value of our product”, emphasized Duarte, highlighting that, between challenges and opportunities, Abrapa used three motivations to create the Cotton Brazil Project: Brazilian cotton is already exported to more than 50 countries and, only in the month last year, 333 thousand tons were shipped; the fact that Brazil supplies lint throughout the year and, finally, the realization that markets do not always recognize the differences in Brazilian cotton.

Excellence

The Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina, congratulated Abrapa for creating a structured program to position Brazilian cotton abroad. “Showing the excellence of this production chain to the whole world, with its qualifications and technical capacity, with quality and generating employment, is a great challenge. But I'm sure it will be a success”, celebrated the minister, followed by the CEO of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), Alan McClay. “Abrapa has been one of the most dynamic partners, and has become the largest Better Cotton producer in the world. Since the beginning of its operations, in 2010, it has been leading the implementation of BCI standards in Brazil to later align all of this with the ABR standard, which has enabled an increase in the volume available on the market and expanded perspectives for producers”, McClay pointed out, remembering that, in the 2018/2019 harvest, Brazil produced more than two million tons of Better Cotton cotton, a growth of 34% and a volume equivalent to 36% of Better Cotton lint across the globe. Across the country, 75% of production is licensed by BCI.

eco-friendly

The rainfed production capacity, studies to reduce the use of pesticides, biological alternatives and actions to promote pest control were also highlighted by participants during the virtual event, including the Business Director of Apex-Brasil, Augusto Pestana. “We can guarantee the availability of more sustainable cotton in the world, presenting our potential and competitiveness to the most demanding markets, whilst also receiving recognition for the quality of our product. We will continue to join forces to achieve success in this project”, highlighted Pestana.

“We need to expand business opportunities, because we are among the 40 largest economies in the world. Brazil is growing and we need this growth to be accompanied by strengthening and, mainly, repositioning its image, above all, perceived quality. Our cotton is as good as American cotton and does not differ much in quality from Australian cotton. But, in the market's perception, they beat us, and, from now on, we are going to change that”, pondered the president of Anea, Henrique Snitcovski.

Steps and strategies

With the slogan “Growing for a better future”, the first stage of Cotton Brazil included planning a brand that could add more value to the Brazilian product, making the chain itself understand the market's perception of feather, and verifying the distance between this perception it's reality. Thus, the Cotton Brazil brand had its visual identity similar to that of the “Sou de Algodão” movement, an initiative aimed at the national market, showing communication synergy.

The project foresees technical and marketing events, called Cotton Brazil Days, in each of the nine countries, in their respective languages. There will be actions on social networks, a Business Intelligence platform, Buyers and Sellers missions, market research, in addition to the development of strategic partnerships, such as those already established with the International Federation of the Chinese Textile Industry (ITMF) and the Chinese Textile Industry Council and Clothing (CNTAC). “In challenging times, it’s a great idea to celebrate progress and look to the future with confidence. I am happy to see that Brazilian cotton farmers have been seeking continuous improvements in planting, harvesting and processing cotton in recent years”, said the president of ITMF, Ruizhe Sun.

Pioneering spirit

Another major achievement of the project was the opening of the commercial office in Singapore, a location strategically chosen to serve the main Asian countries that sell Brazilian cotton. Abrapa is the first private Brazilian agribusiness entity to establish itself in the region. The direct dialogue between Cotton Brazil partners and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs resulted in the effective participation of all Brazilian embassies in Asia and the Ministry of Agriculture, through agricultural attachés, enhanced the first round of presentation of the project to the nine priority countries. “The close relationship between the private sector, Itamaraty, Mapa and Apex-Brasil managed to bring together several entities in favor of cotton farming in the country and this makes me very proud. Cotton is a success story in Brazil and the most impressive thing is its recent evolution, in 2019/2020, reaching more than 2 billion dollars exported, precisely in a period of difficulties due to the pandemic, which reveals the capacity of the sector ”, emphasized the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ernesto Araújo.

The conviction of all participants, after the launch of Cotton Brazil, is that a new challenging phase for Brazilian cotton has begun. “The path will be filled with many lessons and learnings, but it will reward the sector for its vision of being present at the center of the largest and most powerful market, Asia. Let's project Brazil around the world through cotton”, concluded Abrapa's president, Milton Garbugio.