#Raw Materials

2022-08-11

The ICAC will give away $9,000 in multiple World Cotton Day contests

With two months to go until 7 October, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has announced that it will hold a number of contests to celebrate World Cotton Day, totalling $9,000 in prize money. There will be six contests, with each awarding the winner $1,000 and the runner-up $500.

Four of them will be held on Twitter; winners will be those whose tweets get the most points (1 point for each like and 3 points for each retweet) for tweets sent between 1 September and 6 October, with the winners announced on World Cotton Day. Each tweet must include three hashtags — #worldcottonday; #ICAC_Cotton; #cottonforgood (the official theme of World Cotton Day) — as well as a fourth that indicates which contest the tweet is for:

1. #cotton: Tweets about the cotton plant, including the raw fibre.

2. #madewithcotton: Tweets about products made from cotton.

3. #sustainablecotton: Tweets about some aspect of cotton’s sustainability.

4. #cottonresearch: Tweets about the science of cotton.

In addition, two contests will be held at the World Cotton Research Conference, which begins on 4 October in Cairo and concludes on World Cotton Day:

1. Best live presentation, and

2. Best poster.

‘Because cotton alleviates poverty in many of the world’s least-developed countries and helps fight climate change globally, the more visibility cotton gets on 7 October, the better’, said Kai Hughes, ICAC Executive Director. ‘We want to motivate people to spread the good word about cotton with the Twitter contests, and want to reward the scientists whose research is the lifeblood of the cotton industry’s development at the World Cotton Research Conference’.

For more information about the ICAC’s World Cotton Day contests, and see an example of a tweet for the #madewithcotton contest, please click here:

https://www.worldcottonday.com/location/international-cotton-advisory-committee-icac-2/

Dr N Vigneshwaran is named 2026 ICAC Researcher of the Year

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is pleased to announce the selection of Dr N Vigneshwaran, Principal Scientist and Head of the Chemical and Biochemical Processing Division at the ICAR–Central Institute for Research on Cotton Technology (ICAR-CIRCOT), Mumbai, India, as the ICAC Researcher of the Year 2026.

China projected to increase cotton production, yields, and imports in 2026/27

World cotton production in the 2026/27 season is projected at 25.9 million tonnes, exceeding global consumption of 25.2 million tonnes, according to the May 2026 issue of Cotton This Month. That means both production and consumption are expected to remain close to current season levels, while global cotton trade is projected to decline by 2.7% to approximately 9.6-9.7 million tonnes.

New U.S. cotton study uses real-world grower data to reveal where fiber impacts occur

Cotton Incorporated has released a critically reviewed life cycle assessment (LCA) of U.S. cotton fiber production that examines how cotton’s environmental impacts are measured and where meaningful improvements can be made across the value chain. The new data, grounded in real‑world grower inputs, measures what drives U.S. cotton’s environmental footprint from field to gin.

ECCO introduces first shoe featuring innovative protein-based fibre

ECCO, in partnership with Spinnova, announces the launch of the limited edition ECCO BIOM® 720, a first-of-its-kind shoe utilising an often overlooked leather by-product, transformed into a protein-based fibre. The fibres are produced using patented technology that advances material innovation while reducing waste and supporting full resource use across the leather and textile industry.

ATCO Hygienics, Uzbekistan, orders baby diaper production line from ANDRITZ

International technology group ANDRITZ has received an order from ATCO Hygienics to supply a new baby diaper production line for its plant in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. The order is included in ANDRITZ’s order intake for the first quarter of 2026. Commissioning of the production line is scheduled for the end of 2026.

Nico Pedretti appointed as Managing Director Graf Group

As of June 1, 2026, Nico Pedretti has assumed the role of Managing Director Graf Group. With more than 20 years of international industrial experience and extensive expertise in Operations, Supply Chain Management, Finance and Controlling, he brings a broad range of leadership and business experience to support Graf’s continued success.