This shift will remove a significant export barrier for U.S. cotton to Bangladesh, as well as saving Bangladeshi mills time and money as they look to the U.S. to fill their cotton fiber import needs. Bangladeshi mills have been paying over a million dollars annually to cover unnecessary fumigation costs imposed on cotton imported from the U.S.

U.S. exporters will continue to use APHIS-generated phytosanitary certificates, but under the new regulation the certificate will have additional language confirming no live boll weevils are in U.S. baled cotton. APHIS will issue revised instructions for exporters.

Bangladesh’s Agricultural and Commerce Ministries’ decision to lift the fumigation requirements on U.S. cotton came after six Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture delegation members joined a CCI-sponsored U.S. cotton tour. Thanks to coordination with the National Cotton Council (NCC), the Bangladesh Ministry of Agriculture delegation conducted U.S. cotton meetings in Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas. They met with U.S. cotton industry representatives and visited cotton fields, gins and warehouses, and the USDA Agricultural Ginning Research Laboratory in Stoneville, Miss.

The delegation learned why U.S. cotton bales do not harbor live boll weevils, including a review of the U.S. cotton industry’s successful Boll Weevil Eradication Program and its modern cotton harvesting and standardized ginning techniques. Additional discussion topics included the phytosanitary inspection and certification process with APHIS during Zoom calls at the NCC headquarters in Cordova, Tenn., and during a meeting with the Texas Boll Weevil Eradication Program in Harlingen, Texas.