Originally Posted by
MaggieBB
I DO NOT understand all of the uproar about cotton prices being up, as you know the majority of fabric we use is printed or woven in china, they get the majority of their cotton base fabric fron Egypt, because the USA has lower cotton yeilds do not apply to other countrys, I believe we are being RIPPED OF by the media hipe.
The majority of greige goods (the base woven goods that fabric is printed upon) are woven in China. If you get your fabric from Wal-mart or Joannes or other outlets selling cheap fabrics, they are also mostly printed in China.
If you are buying from your LQS, or from your small online retailers most of the fabric is printed in Korea, with the best fabrics being printed in Korea and Japan. I personally will not carry fabrics printed in China, the quality just isn't there for the most part.
Cotton is grown in over 90 different countries. The largest producers are China, India and the USA followed by Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Brazil. These 6 countries produce over 83% of the worlds supply of cotton. Egypt does grow some fine cotton, but it is a limited crop there.
China is also the largest consumer of cotton, as well as the largest importer. The largest exporter of cotton is the USA. China's share of cotton consumption has grown exponentially as their population has exploded both in terms of size and in terms of affluence, while the rest of the world's consumption has remained pretty steady over the years.
There is no media hype here -- just good old supply and demand. As production has remained rather flat and demand has gone up, mainly due to increased demand from China, prices have risen. It's just that simple. And when the worlds largest supplier of raw cotton, the USA, has a bad year, the prices go up even more.