To enhance sales of U.S. manufactured cotton yarn and fabric, the U.S. cotton industry is bringing yarn and fabric buyers from 10 Western Hemisphere countries to meet with U.S. cotton textile mills.

This will encourage business relationships to help U.S. textile mills take advantage of the various free trade agreements within this Hemisphere, along with the closer delivery times that U.S. brands and retailers are seeking as the industry recovers from the recession.

The COTTON USA Western Hemisphere Manufacturers Tour, Sept. 21-24, is coordinated by Cotton Council International (CCI), the National Cotton Council’s export promotions arm. It is part of the COTTON USA Sourcing Program which encourages exports of U.S. manufactured cotton textile products throughout Latin America.

CCI President Clyde T. Sharp, an Arizona cotton producer, said, “the majority of U.S. mill exports are to Western Hemisphere countries, in fact most of the cotton consumed by U.S. mills goes there. This event not only will help boost sales of U.S. cotton products, but strengthen relationships with key manufacturer customers in the South American/Caribbean Basin trading bloc — a very important market for U.S. cotton.”

On the tour will be yarn buyers from 29 firms and fabric buyers from 10 firms. Countries represented include Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru, Haiti and Mexico.

The participants will participate in a seminar on Sept. 22 in Charlotte, N.C., that will cover timely topics ranging from a cotton fiber supply/demand outlook to cotton consumer and retail trends. They also will tour a cotton farm and gin in New London, N.C.

The next day they will meet with top U.S. textile industry executives representing Buhler Quality Yarns Corp., Jefferson, Ga.; Carolina Cotton Works and Hamrick Mills, both in Gaffney, S.C.; Contempora Fabrics, Lumberton, N.C.; Frontier Spinning Mills, Sanford, N.C.; Parkdale, Gastonia, N.C.; Tuscarora Yarns, Mt. Pleasant, N.C.; and Zagis USA, Lafayette, La. They also will tour those participating U.S. mills.

For more information, visit www.cottonusa.org.