Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cotton Shortage

In sadder news, the Financial Times reports that India has once again banned export of cotton.  India is blaming speculators fixing prices and China's stockpile of cotton reserves.  What does this mean?  Well, like the last time they banned export in 2010 it's going to lead to higher fabric prices and more synthetic blends as companies try to reduce their costs.  I wonder if more rayons will be sold, too, since they're comparable to cottons or if they'll get more expensive too (I guess it depends on whether they use cotton cellulose or another cellulose to make their product).  Perhaps it was just me, but there seemed to be a slight dip in silk prices as well (or maybe it just seemed cheaper now that cotton cost so much).  Silk has certainly risen in price since 2010, though, but the inflated cotton prices stayed the same, so maybe this will at least stop the silk inflation.

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