Uzbeks Plan Reduction in Raw Cotton Sales

Uzbekistan’s plan to turn cotton into textiles rather than selling unprocessed lint on the world market may be a response to a boycott by international clothing manufacturers concerned at the use of child labour in the Central Asian state, analysts say.

During the annual cotton fair in the Uzbek capital Tashkent in October, Prime Minister Shavkat Mirzioev said 70 per cent of the country’s cotton output should be going to domestic manufacturing industries rather than abroad by 2015. He made a similar statement at last year’s cotton fair.

At the moment, about 400,000 tons of the annual crop of some 3.5 million tons goes to local textile manufacturers, of which there are some 240. Processing more of it in Uzbekistan and exporting the finished product could increase revenues from sales of goods with added-value.

The government has a development plan in place to boost manufacturing through more than 100 investment projects by 2015.

Uzbeklegprom, the government’s agency for light industry, says that if the programme is implemented in full, the result could be that up to 80 per cent of cotton is turned into textiles, and that cotton industry revenues as a whole could triple.

There are some suspicions that the domestic manufacturing plan dovetails neatly with the problems Tashkent has faced with western buyers. In recent years the world’s sixth largest cotton grower and second-largest exporter, the country was subject to a growing boycott by retailers and clothing manufacturers like Wal-Mart and Tesco from 2007 onwards. They took action after campaigners highlighted the routine, state-sponsored use of children to weed and pick cotton in Uzbekistan.

The Uzbek government responded with legislative changes and insisted the practice had ended, but local observers say children are still working in the fields as they did before. SeeUzbekistan Starts Coercive Cotton Picking Campaign http://iwpr.net/report-news/uzbekistan-starts-coercive-cotton-picking-campaign.

"There are a lot of children in the fields," said Yelena Urlaeva, leader of the Human Rights Alliance of Uzbekistan.

Some analysts argue that plans to boost local textile manufacturing are merely intended to provide cover for continuing sales to less scrupulous buyers.

An economist in Tashkent pointed out that following the boycott, "The place occupied by Europeans and Americans was quickly filled by purchasers from Russia, Asia and the former Soviet Union, who aren’t so sensitive about child labour issues”.

This was a partial solution, but not wholly successful as many western purchasers continued to track the original source of cotton consignments. For example, Finland’s Marimekko ended purchases from the Estonian manufacturer because it was using Uzbek cotton.

A cotton trade expert in Tashkent predicts that joint ventures with Chinese and Bangladeshi firms – both from countries that grow cotton themselves – will help muddy the waters.

"A significant proportion of Uzbek cotton will undoubtedly be processed in China and Bangladesh after changing hands in several sales," he said. "All the participants in this resale process will set up companies with the sole purpose of suppressing the fact that finished products are being made from Uzbek cotton."

As another economist in Tashkent put it, "This will make it impossible to establish the origin of cotton, and will offset the losses from the refusal of many clothing manufacturers and retailers to buy Uzbek cotton.”

By creating export opportunities, such practices could help perpetuate the use of child labour.

"If the scheme works, the partners will have more of an interest in boosting cotton production in Uzbekistan and reducing the cost," a local observer said. "This in turn will prompt the government to make more intensive use of free or extremely cheap child labour."

This article was produced as part of IWPR’s News Briefing Central Asia output, funded by the National Endowment for Democracy.