According to the ITMF’s (International Textile Manufacturers’ Federation) Cotton Contamination (The level of foreign matters and contamination) Survey 2011, the level of foreign matters, stickniess and seed-coat fragments have increased when compared to the year 2009. In the summery of survey results, it is stated that after some kind of improvements in the recent years, serious problems have occurred in cotton spinning over the world as a result of the foreign matters, stickiness and seed-coat fragments. The report prepared every year by ITMF, 71 different cotton types have been evaluated in the survey conducted in 119 spinning mills in 24 countries.
Compared to the survey done in 2009, the level of contaminated cotton – as perceived by the spinning mills around the world - increased from 22 percent to 23 pecent. When we look to the extent of the contamination closer, it is seen that 7 percent of the evaluated cotton is contaminated by the foreign matters. This rate war 6 percent in 2009. The rate of the cotton that was moderately contaminated was 15 percent in 2009 and this figure increased to 16 percent in 2011.
As for the elements that cause contamination, it is observed that the level of tar within the cotton increased to 5 percent in 2011 whereas it was 4 percent in 2009. On the other hand the level of organic matters such as leaves, feathers, paper, leather, has increased from 42 percent to 51 percent. The other important contaminants are the inorganic matters, the level of which amounts to 31 percent, the fabrics made of cotton with 30 percent, plastic products with 29 percent and plastic films with 29 percent. According to the ITMF’s survey, India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, China and Turkey are the regions with most contaminated cotton. On the other hand the USA (Texas, Arizona, Pima, Memphis and California), Syria, Benin, Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Greece and Australia are the regions, where the most clean raw cotton is produced.
Considerable Increase in Stickiness
The level of stickiness in cotton, which reached a record low with 16 percent in 2009, amounted to 20 percent in 2011 with a sharp increase. This situation is considered to be a serious problem in the global cotton spinning industry.
India, Syria, USA (California, Pima), Spain, Mali, Uzbekistan are the regions affacted by the stickiness, which is an effective factor in the cotton’s quality. On the other hand Argentina, Turkey (Izmir), USA (Arizona), Egypt (Giza), India (J-34) and USA (Texas) are the regoins hardly affected by stickiness.
A Sharp Increase in Seed-Coat Fragment
According to the Cotton Contamination Survey 2011, in the cotton growing process, the seed-coat fragment is considered to be a problem among the spinners around the world. 31 percent of the cotton spinners state that they encountered losses due to the seed-coat fragments in 2009. This figure increased to 38 in 2011.
Nigeria, India (India–Others, MCU-5, Shankar-4/6, J-34) USA (South Eastern, California), Ivory Coast and Turkey are among the regions affected mostly by seed-coat fragments. On the other hand Australia, Benin, India (Others), Pakistan (Others) and USA (California, Texas) are the regions which are affacted by the problem more slightly.
