RI's cotton import up

RI's cotton import up

WASHINGTON (Reuter): An agricultural attache at the U.S. embassy in Jakarta forecast Indonesia 1997/98 cotton imports would climb to 2.34 million 480-pound bales from 2.23 million bales in 1996/97.

In a report dated June 25 released in Washington on Monday, the attache said the United States would remain the leading supplier of cotton to Indonesia during 1996/97 and 1997/98 but noted U.S. market share had declined due to price pressure and consequent larger imports from competitors including Australia, India and Tanzania.

Indonesia is one of the largest cotton consumers and ranks as the second largest cotton importer worldwide, the attache said.

Attache reports are not official USDA data.