Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Cotton shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Cotton offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Cotton at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Cotton? Wrong! If the Cotton is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Cotton then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Cotton? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Cotton and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Cotton wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Cotton then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Cotton site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Cotton, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Cotton, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium sp.), a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India, and Africa. However, virtually all of the commercial cotton grown today worldwide is grown from varieties of the native American species Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense. The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today. The English language derives from the Arabic language (al) qutn قُطْن, meaning cotton. (The Spanish language word algodón has the same etymology.)

Cotton fibre, once it has been processed to remove seeds and traces of honey, protein, vegetable matter, and other impurities, consists of nearly pure cellulose, a natural polymer. Cotton production is very efficient, in the sense that ten percent or less of the weight is lost in subsequent processing to convert the raw cotton bolls (seed cases) into pure fiber. The cellulose is arranged in a way that gives cotton fibers a high degree of strength, durability, and absorbency. Each fiber is made up of twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat series of natural springs. When the cotton boll is opened, the fibers dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is ideal for Spinning (textiles) into a fine yarn., USA, in 1943.

Leading cotton-producing countries As of 2007, the ten largest producers of cotton in the world are (1) China, (2) India, (3) the United States, (4) Pakistan, (5) Brazil, (6) Uzbekistan, (7) Turkey, (8) Greece, (9) Turkmenistan and (10) Syriahttp://www.cotton.org/econ/cropinfo/cropdata/rankings.cfm.

The five leading exporters are (1) the United States, (2) Uzbekistan, (3) India, (4) Brazil, and (5) Burkina Faso. The biggest non-producing importers are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Russian Federation and Taiwan.

In the United States, the state of Texas leads in total production while the state of California has the highest Crop yield in the world.

Cultivation (2005), 2002Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1200mm (24 to 48 inches). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, though the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. It is heavily dependent on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer.

Cotton is a thirsty crop, and as water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, cotton has led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where it is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.

Genetically modified cotton Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. GM cotton is widely used throughout the world with claims of requiring up to 80% less pesticide than ordinary cotton. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 67,000 km² in 2002. This is 20% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton. The U.S. cotton crop was 73% GM in 2003.

The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a commercial disaster in Australia - the yields were far lower than predicted, and the cotton plants were cross-pollinated with other varieties of cotton. However, the introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to 15% of Australian cotton being GM in 2003. 80% of the crop was genetically modified in 2004, when the original variety was banned.

History in the 14th centuryCotton has been used to make very fine lightweight cloth in areas with tropical climates for millennia. Evidence has been found of cotton in Mexico caves (cotton cloth and fragments of bloody fiber interwoven with feathers and fur) dating back approximately 7,000 years. There is archaeological evidence that people in India and South America domesticated different species of cotton independently thousands of years ago.

Cotton cultivation in the Old World began from History of India, where cotton has been grown for more than 6,000 years, since the Periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization. Cotton from the Indus Valley civilization was exported to Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC,Srinivasan Kalyanaraman (2006). Bronze Age Trade and Writing System of Meluhha (p. 8). and cotton was soon known to the ancient Egypt as well. The famous Ancient Greece historian Herodotus also wrote about Indian cotton: "There are trees which grow wild there, the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep. The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool." (Book III. 106)

In Peru, cotton was the backbone of the development of coastal cultures such as the Moche and Nazca. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets and traded with fishing villages along the coast for large supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico in the early 1500s found the people growing cotton and wearing clothing made of it.

During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an International tradeed fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of what it came from other than that it was a plant; noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in many European languages, such as German language Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool". By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Asia and the Americas.



India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during United Kingdom expansion in India and the establishment of British Raj during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to the British East India Company's de-industrialization of India, which forced the closing of cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India, to ensure that Indian markets supplied only raw materials and were obliged to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.

The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738 Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, of Birmingham England, patented the Roller Spinning machine, and the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the spinning jenny in 1764 and Richard Arkwright's spinning frame (based on the Roller Spinning Machine) in 1769 enabled British weavers to produce cotton yarn and cloth at much higher rates. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland city of Manchester acquired the nickname "cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade. Production capacity was further improved by the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire, and then re-exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in British West Africa, British Raj, and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong).

By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanised British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase a cotton from plantations in the United States and the Caribbean. This was also much cheaper as it was produced by unpaid slavery in the United States. By the mid 19th century, "King cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slavery in the United States.

During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a United States of America blockade on Confederate States of America ports, prompting the main purchasers of cotton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and France, to turn to Egypt cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations and the Egyptian government of Isma'il Pasha took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports, sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's annexation by the British Empire in 1882.



During this time cotton cultivation in the British Empire, especially India, greatly increased to replace the lost production of the American South. Through tariffs and other restrictions the British government discouraged the production of cotton cloth in India; rather the raw fiber was sent to England for processing. The Indian patriot Gandhi, Mohandas K. described the process:

  • English people buy Indian cotton in the field, picked by Indian labor at seven cents a day, through an optional monopoly.
  • These cotton are shipped on British bottoms, a three weeks journey across the Indian Ocean, down the Red Sea, across the Mediterranean, through Gibraltar, across the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean to London. One hundred per cent profit on this freight is regarded as small.
  • The cotton are turned into cloth in Lancashire. You pay shilling wages instead of Indian pennies to your workers. The English worker not only has the advantage of better wages, but the steel companies of England get the profit of building the factories and machines. Wages; profits; all these are spent in England.
  • The finished product is sent back to India at European shipping rates, once again on British ships. The captains, officers, sailors of these ships, whose wages must be paid, are English. The only Indians who profit are a few lascars who do the dirty work on the boats for a few cents a day.
  • The cloth is finally sold back to the kings and landlords of India who got the money to buy this expensive cloth out of the poor peasants of India who worked at seven cents a day. (Fisher 1932 pp 154-156)


    • In the United States, cotton remained a key crop in the southern economy after Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the civil war in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations in return for a share of the profits (although in reality, the system was little changed from the days of slavery). Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton fibers, and it was not until the 1950s that reliable harvesting machinery was introduced into the South (prior to this, cotton-harvesting machinery had been too clumsy to pick cotton without shredding the fibers). During the early twentieth century, employment in the cotton industry fell as machines began to replace laborers, and as the South's rural labor force dwindled during the First and Second World Wars. Today, cotton remains a major export of the southern United States, and a majority of the world's annual cotton crop is of the long-staple American variety.

    Pests and weeds The cotton industry relies heavily on chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides, although a very small number of farmers are moving towards an Organic farming model of production and organic cotton products are now available for purchase at limited locations. These are popular for baby clothes and diapers. Under most definitions, organic products do not use genetic engineering.

    Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to the US Department of Agriculture's highly successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered "Bacillus thuringiensis cotton" (which contains a bacteria gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that is toxic to a number of pests such as tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.

    Mechanised harvesting

    Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.

    The logistics of cotton harvesting and processing have been improved by the development of the cotton module builder, a machine that compresses harvested cotton into a large block, which is then covered with a tarp and temporarily stored at the edge of the field. Additionally, in August 2007, Deere & Company introduced a self-propelled cotton picker that rolls the harvested cotton into round modules similar to Baler of hay. The rolls are automatically wrapped in a protective film and deposited at the edge of the field. This integrates the module builder with the cotton picker, making a machine that roughly equates to a combine harvester, allowing for continuous harvesting."John Deere Launches the 7760 Self-propelled Cotton Picker", Deere & Company, Lenexa, Kansas, http://www.deere.com/en_US/newsroom/2007/releases/farmersandranchers/082307_7760picker.html, 1996-2007

    Cotton continues to be picked by hand in poor countries such as Uzbekistan. Craig Murray. Murder in Samarkand - A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror. ISBN 978-1845961947. 2006.

    Research and promotion Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research & Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.

    Administered by the Cotton Board and conducted by Cotton Incorporated, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program works to greatly increase the demand for and profitability of cotton through various research and promotion activities. It is funded by U.S. cotton producers and importers.

    Uses Cotton is used to make a number of textile products. These include terrycloth, used to make highly absorbent bath towels and robes; denim, used to make blue jeans; chambray, popularly used in the manufacture of blue work shirts (from which we get the term "blue-collar"); and corduroy, seersucker, and cotton twill. Socks, underwear, and most T-shirts are made from cotton. Bed sheets are often made from cotton. Cotton is also used to make yarn used in crochet and knitting. Fabric can also be made from recycled or recovered cotton that would otherwise be thrown away during the spinning, weaving or cutting process. While many fabrics are made completely of cotton, some materials blend cotton with other fibers, including rayon and synthetic fibers such as polyester.

    In addition to the textile industry, cotton is used in fishnets, coffee filters, tents, gunpowder (see Nitrocellulose), cotton paper and in bookbinding. The first Chinese papermaking was made of cotton fiber. Fire hoses were once made of cotton.

    The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which after refining can be consumed by humans like any other vegetable oil. The cottonseed meal that is left is generally fed to livestock. In the past, cotton seeds were used as an abortifacient, that is, a folk remedy to provoke abortion.

    Cotton linters are fine, silky fibers which adhere to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. These curly fibers are typically less than 1/8in, 3mm long. The term may also apply to the longer textile fiber staple lint as well as the shorter fuzzy fibers from some upland species. Linters are traditionally used in the manufacture of paper and as a raw material in the manufacture of cellulose.

    Shiny cotton is a processed version of the fiber that can be made into cloth resembling satin for shirts and suits. However, its hydrophobic property of not easily taking up water makes it unfit for the purpose of bath and dish towels (although examples of these made from shiny cotton are seen.)

    The term Egyptian cotton is usually applied to the extra long staple cotton produced in Egypt and favored for the luxury and upmarket brands worldwide. In fact, the cotton species which produces extra long staple "Egyptian" cotton is the native American species Gossypium barbadense, also known today as American Pima cotton, which was introduced by Mohammad Ali Pasha in the 19th century. During the U.S. Civil War, with heavy European investments, Egyptian-grown cotton became a major alternate source for British textile mills. Most of what is labeled "Egyptian cotton" today, however, also includes long staple cotton, the product of the other native American species Gossypium hirsutum . The ancient Egyptians made their clothing from linen, a product of the flax plant.

    In South Asia, cotton is widely used in mattresses, which are the most common type of mattress used in that region.

    The international cotton trade The United States, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa, with sales of $2.1 billion, are the largest exporters of raw cotton. Total international trade is $12 billion. Africa's share of the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Neither area has a significant domestic textile industry, textile manufacturing having moved to developing nations in Eastern and South Asia such as India and China. In Africa cotton is grown by numerous small holders. Dunavant Enterprises, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is the leading cotton broker in Africa with hundreds of purchasing agents. It operates cotton gins in Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia. In Zambia it often offers loans for seed and expenses to the 180,000 small farmers who grow cotton for it, as well as advice on farming methods. Cargill also purchases cotton in Africa for export.

    The 25,000 cotton growers in the United States are heavily subsidy at the rate of $2 billion per year. The future of these subsidies is uncertain and has led to anticipatory expansion of cotton brokers' operations in Africa. Dunavant expanded in Africa by buying out local operations. This is only possible in former British colonies and Mozambique; former French colonies continue to maintain tight monopolies, inherited from their former colonialist masters, on cotton purchases at low fixed prices. "Out of Africa: Cotton and Cash", article by G. Pascal Zachary in the New York Times, January 14, 2007

    Fair trade Cotton is an enormously important commodity throughout the world. However, many farmers in developing countries receive a low price for their produce, or find it difficult to compete with developed countries.

    This has led to an international dispute:

    On 27 September 2002 Brazil requested consultations with the US regarding prohibited and actionable subsidies provided to US producers, users and/or exporters of Gossypium hirsutum, as well as legislation, regulations, statutory instruments and amendments thereto providing such subsidies (including export credits), grants, and any other assistance to the US producers, users and exporters of upland cotton.United States — Subsidies on Upland Cotton, http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds267_e.htm, World Trade Organization, accessed October 2, 2006

    On 8 September 2004, the Panel Report recommended that the United States "withdraw" export credit guarantees and payments to domestic user and exporters, and "take appropriate steps to remove the adverse effects or withdraw" the mandatory price-contingent subsidy measures.United States - Subsidies on Upland Cotton, http://docsonline.wto.org/DDFDocuments/t/WT/DS/267R.doc, World Trade Organization, accessed October 2, 2006

    In addition to concerns over subsidies, the cotton industries of some countries are criticized for employing child labor and damaging workers' health by exposure to pesticides used in production. For example, cotton production in Uzbekistan has been described as one of the most exploitative industries in the world.White Gold - the true cost of cotton, http://www.ejfoundation.org/pdf/white_gold_the_true_cost_of_cotton.pdf, Environmental Justice Foundation, accessed August 24, 2007 The international production and trade situation has led to 'fair trade' cotton clothing and footwear, joining a rapidly growing market for organic clothing, fair fashion or 'ethical fashion'. The fair trade system was initiated in 2005 with producers from Cameroon, Mali and Senegal.Market: Cotton, http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/cotton/market.htm#fair, UNCTAD, accessed October 2, 2006

    Organic cotton Organic cotton is cotton that is grown without insecticide or pesticide. Worldwide, cotton is a pesticide-heavy crop, using approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and 10% of the world's pesticides.Allen Woodburn Associates Ltd./Managing Resources Ltd., "Cotton: The Crop and its Agrochemicals Market," 1995. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming. Organic agriculture uses methods that are ecological, economical, and socially sustainable and denies the use of agrochemicals and artificial fertilizers. Instead, organic agriculture uses crop rotation, the cropping of different crops than cotton. The use of insecticides is prohibited; organic agriculture uses natural enemies to suppress harmful insects. The production of organic cotton is more expensive than the production of conventional cotton. Although toxic pollution from synthetic chemicals is eliminated, other pollution-like problems may remain, particularly run-off. Organic cotton is produced in organic agricultural systems that produce food and fiber according to clearly established standards. Organic agriculture prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers, as well as genetically modified organisms. It seeks to build biologically diverse agricultural systems, replenish and maintain soil fertility, and promote a healthy environment.

    Critical temperatures

    Cotton dries out, becomes hard and brittle and loses all elasticity at temperatures above 25°C. Extended exposure to light causes similar problems.

    A temperature range of 25°C to 35°C is the optimal range for mold development. At temperatures below 0°C, rotting of wet cotton stops. Damaged cotton is sometimes stored at these temperatures to prevent further deterioration.Transportation Information Service of Germany, Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V. (GDV), Berlin, http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/fasern/baumwoll/baumwoll.htm, 2002-2006

    Old British cotton yarn measures

    Properties of cotton fibres {| class="wikitable"|-!width=35%| Property!Evaluation|-|Shape|Fairly uniform in width, 12-20 microns; length varies from ½ to 2½ inches; typical length is ⅞ to 1¼ inches.|-|Luster|low|-|Tenacity (strength)
    Dry
    Wet|
    3.0-5.0 g/d
    3.3-6.0 g/d|-|Resiliency|low|-|Density|1.54/1.56 g/ccm|-|Moisture absorption
    raw:conditioned
    saturation
    mercerized: conditioned
    saturation|
    8.5%
    15-25%
    8.5-10.3%
    15-27%+|-|Dimensional stability|good|-|Resistance to
    acids
    alkali
    organic solvents
    sunlight
    microorganisms
    insects
    |
    damage, weaken fibers
    resistant; no harmful effects
    high resistance to most
    Prolonged exposure weakens fibers.
    Mildew and rot-producing bacteria damage fibers.
    Silverfish damage fibers.|-|Thermal reactions
    to heat
    to flame|Decomposes after prolonged exposure to temperatures of 150˚C or over.
    Burns readily.|-|}

    See also

    References

    External links

    History and uses

    Markets and trade associations Cotton is a soft fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plant (Gossypium sp.), a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, India, and Africa. However, virtually all of the commercial cotton grown today worldwide is grown from varieties of the native American species Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense. The fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile, which is the most widely used natural-fiber cloth in clothing today. The English language derives from the Arabic language (al) qutn قُطْن, meaning cotton. (The Spanish language word algodón has the same etymology.)

    Cotton fibre, once it has been processed to remove seeds and traces of honey, protein, vegetable matter, and other impurities, consists of nearly pure cellulose, a natural polymer. Cotton production is very efficient, in the sense that ten percent or less of the weight is lost in subsequent processing to convert the raw cotton bolls (seed cases) into pure fiber. The cellulose is arranged in a way that gives cotton fibers a high degree of strength, durability, and absorbency. Each fiber is made up of twenty to thirty layers of cellulose coiled in a neat series of natural springs. When the cotton boll is opened, the fibers dry into flat, twisted, ribbon-like shapes and become kinked together and interlocked. This interlocked form is ideal for Spinning (textiles) into a fine yarn., USA, in 1943.

    Leading cotton-producing countries As of 2007, the ten largest producers of cotton in the world are (1) China, (2) India, (3) the United States, (4) Pakistan, (5) Brazil, (6) Uzbekistan, (7) Turkey, (8) Greece, (9) Turkmenistan and (10) Syriahttp://www.cotton.org/econ/cropinfo/cropdata/rankings.cfm.

    The five leading exporters are (1) the United States, (2) Uzbekistan, (3) India, (4) Brazil, and (5) Burkina Faso. The biggest non-producing importers are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Russian Federation and Taiwan.

    In the United States, the state of Texas leads in total production while the state of California has the highest Crop yield in the world.

    Cultivation (2005), 2002Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine, and a moderate rainfall, usually from 600 to 1200mm (24 to 48 inches). Soils usually need to be fairly heavy, though the level of nutrients does not need to be exceptional. In general, these conditions are met within the seasonally dry tropics and subtropics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, but a large proportion of the cotton grown today is cultivated in areas with less rainfall that obtain the water from irrigation. Production of the crop for a given year usually starts soon after harvesting the preceding autumn. Planting time in spring in the Northern hemisphere varies from the beginning of February to the beginning of June. The area of the United States known as the South Plains is the largest contiguous cotton-growing region in the world. It is heavily dependent on irrigation water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer.

    Cotton is a thirsty crop, and as water resources get tighter around the world, economies that rely on it face difficulties and conflict, as well as potential environmental problems. For example, cotton has led to desertification in areas of Uzbekistan, where it is a major export. In the days of the Soviet Union, the Aral Sea was tapped for agricultural irrigation, largely of cotton, and now salination is widespread.

    Genetically modified cotton Genetically modified (GM) cotton was developed to reduce the heavy reliance on pesticides. GM cotton is widely used throughout the world with claims of requiring up to 80% less pesticide than ordinary cotton. The International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA) said that, worldwide, GM cotton was planted on an area of 67,000 km² in 2002. This is 20% of the worldwide total area planted in cotton. The U.S. cotton crop was 73% GM in 2003.

    The initial introduction of GM cotton proved to be a commercial disaster in Australia - the yields were far lower than predicted, and the cotton plants were cross-pollinated with other varieties of cotton. However, the introduction of a second variety of GM cotton led to 15% of Australian cotton being GM in 2003. 80% of the crop was genetically modified in 2004, when the original variety was banned.

    History in the 14th centuryCotton has been used to make very fine lightweight cloth in areas with tropical climates for millennia. Evidence has been found of cotton in Mexico caves (cotton cloth and fragments of bloody fiber interwoven with feathers and fur) dating back approximately 7,000 years. There is archaeological evidence that people in India and South America domesticated different species of cotton independently thousands of years ago.

    Cotton cultivation in the Old World began from History of India, where cotton has been grown for more than 6,000 years, since the Periodization of the Indus Valley Civilization. Cotton from the Indus Valley civilization was exported to Mesopotamia during the 3rd millennium BC,Srinivasan Kalyanaraman (2006). Bronze Age Trade and Writing System of Meluhha (p. 8). and cotton was soon known to the ancient Egypt as well. The famous Ancient Greece historian Herodotus also wrote about Indian cotton: "There are trees which grow wild there, the fruit of which is a wool exceeding in beauty and goodness that of sheep. The Indians make their clothes of this tree wool." (Book III. 106)

    In Peru, cotton was the backbone of the development of coastal cultures such as the Moche and Nazca. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets and traded with fishing villages along the coast for large supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico in the early 1500s found the people growing cotton and wearing clothing made of it.

    During the late medieval period, cotton became known as an International tradeed fiber in northern Europe, without any knowledge of what it came from other than that it was a plant; noting its similarities to wool, people in the region could only imagine that cotton must be produced by plant-borne sheep. John Mandeville, writing in 1350, stated as fact the now-preposterous belief: "There grew there a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie." (See Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.) This aspect is retained in the name for cotton in many European languages, such as German language Baumwolle, which translates as "tree wool". By the end of the 16th century, cotton was cultivated throughout the warmer regions in Asia and the Americas.



    India's cotton-processing sector gradually declined during United Kingdom expansion in India and the establishment of British Raj during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was largely due to the British East India Company's de-industrialization of India, which forced the closing of cotton processing and manufacturing workshops in India, to ensure that Indian markets supplied only raw materials and were obliged to purchase manufactured textiles from Britain.

    The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain provided a great boost to cotton manufacture, as textiles emerged as Britain's leading export. In 1738 Lewis Paul and John Wyatt, of Birmingham England, patented the Roller Spinning machine, and the flyer-and-bobbin system for drawing cotton to a more even thickness using two sets of rollers that travelled at different speeds. Later, the invention of the spinning jenny in 1764 and Richard Arkwright's spinning frame (based on the Roller Spinning Machine) in 1769 enabled British weavers to produce cotton yarn and cloth at much higher rates. From the late eighteenth century onwards, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland city of Manchester acquired the nickname "cottonopolis" due to the cotton industry's omnipresence within the city, and Manchester's role as the heart of the global cotton trade. Production capacity was further improved by the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793. Improving technology and increasing control of world markets allowed British traders to develop a commercial chain in which raw cotton fibers were (at first) purchased from colonial plantations, processed into cotton cloth in the mills of Lancashire, and then re-exported on British ships to captive colonial markets in British West Africa, British Raj, and China (via Shanghai and Hong Kong).

    By the 1840s, India was no longer capable of supplying the vast quantities of cotton fibers needed by mechanised British factories, while shipping bulky, low-price cotton from India to Britain was time-consuming and expensive. This, coupled with the emergence of American cotton as a superior type (due to the longer, stronger fibers of the two domesticated native American species, Gossypium hirsutum and Gossypium barbadense), encouraged British traders to purchase a cotton from plantations in the United States and the Caribbean. This was also much cheaper as it was produced by unpaid slavery in the United States. By the mid 19th century, "King cotton" had become the backbone of the southern American economy. In the United States, cultivating and harvesting cotton became the leading occupation of slavery in the United States.

    During the American Civil War, American cotton exports slumped due to a United States of America blockade on Confederate States of America ports, prompting the main purchasers of cotton, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and France, to turn to Egypt cotton. British and French traders invested heavily in cotton plantations and the Egyptian government of Isma'il Pasha took out substantial loans from European bankers and stock exchanges. After the American Civil War ended in 1865, British and French traders abandoned Egyptian cotton and returned to cheap American exports, sending Egypt into a deficit spiral that led to the country declaring bankruptcy in 1876, a key factor behind Egypt's annexation by the British Empire in 1882.



    During this time cotton cultivation in the British Empire, especially India, greatly increased to replace the lost production of the American South. Through tariffs and other restrictions the British government discouraged the production of cotton cloth in India; rather the raw fiber was sent to England for processing. The Indian patriot Gandhi, Mohandas K. described the process:

  • English people buy Indian cotton in the field, picked by Indian labor at seven cents a day, through an optional monopoly.
  • These cotton are shipped on British bottoms, a three weeks journey across the Indian Ocean, down the Red Sea, across the Mediterranean, through Gibraltar, across the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean to London. One hundred per cent profit on this freight is regarded as small.
  • The cotton are turned into cloth in Lancashire. You pay shilling wages instead of Indian pennies to your workers. The English worker not only has the advantage of better wages, but the steel companies of England get the profit of building the factories and machines. Wages; profits; all these are spent in England.
  • The finished product is sent back to India at European shipping rates, once again on British ships. The captains, officers, sailors of these ships, whose wages must be paid, are English. The only Indians who profit are a few lascars who do the dirty work on the boats for a few cents a day.
  • The cloth is finally sold back to the kings and landlords of India who got the money to buy this expensive cloth out of the poor peasants of India who worked at seven cents a day. (Fisher 1932 pp 154-156)


    • In the United States, cotton remained a key crop in the southern economy after Emancipation Proclamation and the end of the civil war in 1865. Across the South, sharecropping evolved, in which free black farmers worked on white-owned cotton plantations in return for a share of the profits (although in reality, the system was little changed from the days of slavery). Cotton plantations required vast labor forces to hand-pick cotton fibers, and it was not until the 1950s that reliable harvesting machinery was introduced into the South (prior to this, cotton-harvesting machinery had been too clumsy to pick cotton without shredding the fibers). During the early twentieth century, employment in the cotton industry fell as machines began to replace laborers, and as the South's rural labor force dwindled during the First and Second World Wars. Today, cotton remains a major export of the southern United States, and a majority of the world's annual cotton crop is of the long-staple American variety.

    Pests and weeds The cotton industry relies heavily on chemicals such as fertilizers and insecticides, although a very small number of farmers are moving towards an Organic farming model of production and organic cotton products are now available for purchase at limited locations. These are popular for baby clothes and diapers. Under most definitions, organic products do not use genetic engineering.

    Historically, in North America, one of the most economically destructive pests in cotton production has been the boll weevil. Due to the US Department of Agriculture's highly successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program (BWEP), this pest has been eliminated from cotton in most of the United States. This program, along with the introduction of genetically engineered "Bacillus thuringiensis cotton" (which contains a bacteria gene that codes for a plant-produced protein that is toxic to a number of pests such as tobacco budworm, cotton bollworm and pink bollworm), has allowed a reduction in the use of synthetic insecticides.

    Mechanised harvesting

    Most cotton in the United States, Europe and Australia is harvested mechanically, either by a cotton picker, a machine that removes the cotton from the boll without damaging the cotton plant, or by a cotton stripper, which strips the entire boll off the plant. Cotton strippers are used in regions where it is too windy to grow picker varieties of cotton, and usually after application of a chemical defoliant or the natural defoliation that occurs after a freeze. Cotton is a perennial crop in the tropics and without defoliation or freezing, the plant will continue to grow.

    The logistics of cotton harvesting and processing have been improved by the development of the cotton module builder, a machine that compresses harvested cotton into a large block, which is then covered with a tarp and temporarily stored at the edge of the field. Additionally, in August 2007, Deere & Company introduced a self-propelled cotton picker that rolls the harvested cotton into round modules similar to Baler of hay. The rolls are automatically wrapped in a protective film and deposited at the edge of the field. This integrates the module builder with the cotton picker, making a machine that roughly equates to a combine harvester, allowing for continuous harvesting."John Deere Launches the 7760 Self-propelled Cotton Picker", Deere & Company, Lenexa, Kansas, http://www.deere.com/en_US/newsroom/2007/releases/farmersandranchers/082307_7760picker.html, 1996-2007

    Cotton continues to be picked by hand in poor countries such as Uzbekistan. Craig Murray. Murder in Samarkand - A British Ambassador's Controversial Defiance of Tyranny in the War on Terror. ISBN 978-1845961947. 2006.

    Research and promotion Beginning as a self-help program in the mid-1960s, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program was organized by U.S. cotton producers in response to cotton's steady decline in market share. At that time, producers voted to set up a per-bale assessment system to fund the program, with built-in safeguards to protect their investments. With the passage of the Cotton Research & Promotion Act of 1966, the program joined forces and began battling synthetic competitors and re-establishing markets for cotton. Today, the success of this program has made cotton the best-selling fiber in the U.S. and one of the best-selling fibers in the world.

    Administered by the Cotton Board and conducted by Cotton Incorporated, the Cotton Research & Promotion Program works to greatly increase the demand for and profitability of cotton through various research and promotion activities. It is funded by U.S. cotton producers and importers.

    Uses Cotton is used to make a number of textile products. These include terrycloth, used to make highly absorbent bath towels and robes; denim, used to make blue jeans; chambray, popularly used in the manufacture of blue work shirts (from which we get the term "blue-collar"); and corduroy, seersucker, and cotton twill. Socks, underwear, and most T-shirts are made from cotton. Bed sheets are often made from cotton. Cotton is also used to make yarn used in crochet and knitting. Fabric can also be made from recycled or recovered cotton that would otherwise be thrown away during the spinning, weaving or cutting process. While many fabrics are made completely of cotton, some materials blend cotton with other fibers, including rayon and synthetic fibers such as polyester.

    In addition to the textile industry, cotton is used in fishnets, coffee filters, tents, gunpowder (see Nitrocellulose), cotton paper and in bookbinding. The first Chinese papermaking was made of cotton fiber. Fire hoses were once made of cotton.

    The cottonseed which remains after the cotton is ginned is used to produce cottonseed oil, which after refining can be consumed by humans like any other vegetable oil. The cottonseed meal that is left is generally fed to livestock. In the past, cotton seeds were used as an abortifacient, that is, a folk remedy to provoke abortion.

    Cotton linters are fine, silky fibers which adhere to the seeds of the cotton plant after ginning. These curly fibers are typically less than 1/8in, 3mm long. The term may also apply to the longer textile fiber staple lint as well as the shorter fuzzy fibers from some upland species. Linters are traditionally used in the manufacture of paper and as a raw material in the manufacture of cellulose.

    Shiny cotton is a processed version of the fiber that can be made into cloth resembling satin for shirts and suits. However, its hydrophobic property of not easily taking up water makes it unfit for the purpose of bath and dish towels (although examples of these made from shiny cotton are seen.)

    The term Egyptian cotton is usually applied to the extra long staple cotton produced in Egypt and favored for the luxury and upmarket brands worldwide. In fact, the cotton species which produces extra long staple "Egyptian" cotton is the native American species Gossypium barbadense, also known today as American Pima cotton, which was introduced by Mohammad Ali Pasha in the 19th century. During the U.S. Civil War, with heavy European investments, Egyptian-grown cotton became a major alternate source for British textile mills. Most of what is labeled "Egyptian cotton" today, however, also includes long staple cotton, the product of the other native American species Gossypium hirsutum . The ancient Egyptians made their clothing from linen, a product of the flax plant.

    In South Asia, cotton is widely used in mattresses, which are the most common type of mattress used in that region.

    The international cotton trade The United States, with sales of $4.9 billion, and Africa, with sales of $2.1 billion, are the largest exporters of raw cotton. Total international trade is $12 billion. Africa's share of the cotton trade has doubled since 1980. Neither area has a significant domestic textile industry, textile manufacturing having moved to developing nations in Eastern and South Asia such as India and China. In Africa cotton is grown by numerous small holders. Dunavant Enterprises, based in Memphis, Tennessee, is the leading cotton broker in Africa with hundreds of purchasing agents. It operates cotton gins in Uganda, Mozambique and Zambia. In Zambia it often offers loans for seed and expenses to the 180,000 small farmers who grow cotton for it, as well as advice on farming methods. Cargill also purchases cotton in Africa for export.

    The 25,000 cotton growers in the United States are heavily subsidy at the rate of $2 billion per year. The future of these subsidies is uncertain and has led to anticipatory expansion of cotton brokers' operations in Africa. Dunavant expanded in Africa by buying out local operations. This is only possible in former British colonies and Mozambique; former French colonies continue to maintain tight monopolies, inherited from their former colonialist masters, on cotton purchases at low fixed prices. "Out of Africa: Cotton and Cash", article by G. Pascal Zachary in the New York Times, January 14, 2007

    Fair trade Cotton is an enormously important commodity throughout the world. However, many farmers in developing countries receive a low price for their produce, or find it difficult to compete with developed countries.

    This has led to an international dispute:

    On 27 September 2002 Brazil requested consultations with the US regarding prohibited and actionable subsidies provided to US producers, users and/or exporters of Gossypium hirsutum, as well as legislation, regulations, statutory instruments and amendments thereto providing such subsidies (including export credits), grants, and any other assistance to the US producers, users and exporters of upland cotton.United States — Subsidies on Upland Cotton, http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds267_e.htm, World Trade Organization, accessed October 2, 2006

    On 8 September 2004, the Panel Report recommended that the United States "withdraw" export credit guarantees and payments to domestic user and exporters, and "take appropriate steps to remove the adverse effects or withdraw" the mandatory price-contingent subsidy measures.United States - Subsidies on Upland Cotton, http://docsonline.wto.org/DDFDocuments/t/WT/DS/267R.doc, World Trade Organization, accessed October 2, 2006

    In addition to concerns over subsidies, the cotton industries of some countries are criticized for employing child labor and damaging workers' health by exposure to pesticides used in production. For example, cotton production in Uzbekistan has been described as one of the most exploitative industries in the world.White Gold - the true cost of cotton, http://www.ejfoundation.org/pdf/white_gold_the_true_cost_of_cotton.pdf, Environmental Justice Foundation, accessed August 24, 2007 The international production and trade situation has led to 'fair trade' cotton clothing and footwear, joining a rapidly growing market for organic clothing, fair fashion or 'ethical fashion'. The fair trade system was initiated in 2005 with producers from Cameroon, Mali and Senegal.Market: Cotton, http://r0.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/cotton/market.htm#fair, UNCTAD, accessed October 2, 2006

    Organic cotton Organic cotton is cotton that is grown without insecticide or pesticide. Worldwide, cotton is a pesticide-heavy crop, using approximately 25% of the world's insecticides and 10% of the world's pesticides.Allen Woodburn Associates Ltd./Managing Resources Ltd., "Cotton: The Crop and its Agrochemicals Market," 1995. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 20,000 deaths occur each year from pesticide poisoning in developing countries, many of these from cotton farming. Organic agriculture uses methods that are ecological, economical, and socially sustainable and denies the use of agrochemicals and artificial fertilizers. Instead, organic agriculture uses crop rotation, the cropping of different crops than cotton. The use of insecticides is prohibited; organic agriculture uses natural enemies to suppress harmful insects. The production of organic cotton is more expensive than the production of conventional cotton. Although toxic pollution from synthetic chemicals is eliminated, other pollution-like problems may remain, particularly run-off. Organic cotton is produced in organic agricultural systems that produce food and fiber according to clearly established standards. Organic agriculture prohibits the use of toxic and persistent chemical pesticides and fertilizers, as well as genetically modified organisms. It seeks to build biologically diverse agricultural systems, replenish and maintain soil fertility, and promote a healthy environment.

    Critical temperatures

    Cotton dries out, becomes hard and brittle and loses all elasticity at temperatures above 25°C. Extended exposure to light causes similar problems.

    A temperature range of 25°C to 35°C is the optimal range for mold development. At temperatures below 0°C, rotting of wet cotton stops. Damaged cotton is sometimes stored at these temperatures to prevent further deterioration.Transportation Information Service of Germany, Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V. (GDV), Berlin, http://www.tis-gdv.de/tis_e/ware/fasern/baumwoll/baumwoll.htm, 2002-2006

    Old British cotton yarn measures

    Properties of cotton fibres {| class="wikitable"|-!width=35%| Property!Evaluation|-|Shape|Fairly uniform in width, 12-20 microns; length varies from ½ to 2½ inches; typical length is ⅞ to 1¼ inches.|-|Luster|low|-|Tenacity (strength)
    Dry
    Wet|
    3.0-5.0 g/d
    3.3-6.0 g/d|-|Resiliency|low|-|Density|1.54/1.56 g/ccm|-|Moisture absorption
    raw:conditioned
    saturation
    mercerized: conditioned
    saturation|
    8.5%
    15-25%
    8.5-10.3%
    15-27%+|-|Dimensional stability|good|-|Resistance to
    acids
    alkali
    organic solvents
    sunlight
    microorganisms
    insects
    |
    damage, weaken fibers
    resistant; no harmful effects
    high resistance to most
    Prolonged exposure weakens fibers.
    Mildew and rot-producing bacteria damage fibers.
    Silverfish damage fibers.|-|Thermal reactions
    to heat
    to flame|Decomposes after prolonged exposure to temperatures of 150˚C or over.
    Burns readily.|-|}

    See also

    References

    External links

    History and uses

    Markets and trade associations

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