Press release…
Söke cotton, which crossed the borders from the Aegean Region, the land of fertile lands, made history as the first cotton product to be registered in the European Union. Türkiye celebrates the success of Söke cotton on 7 October World Cotton Day.
World Cotton Day will be held in Aegean province of Aydın’s Söke district on 7-8 October 2014 with a wide participation with the Better Cotton Field Trip event. During the two-day field trip to be attended by farmers and sector representatives, cotton production, ginning, cotton supply chain activities and Better Cotton Standard System implementation in Turkey will be seen on-site.
Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator President of the Aegean Exporters‘ Associations (EIB) and also the President of the Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters’ Association, said that approximately 84 percent of the world cotton production is carried out by the top ten countries, including Türkiye and added, “Türkiye ranks 7th in world cotton production in the 2023/24 season. Our share in the EU market is increasing especially with organic and sustainable production projects. In our Söke Plain, the country’s cotton warehouse and known for its quality cotton production, production is carried out with good cotton practices. Geographical indication registration enhances the international market value of the product and the registered product is premium quality/first class. Our Söke cotton, also known as ‘White Gold’ due to the fineness and durability of the yarns obtained from Söke cotton, its unique characteristics, fibre length, softness, high quality and production processes, became our 27th geographical indication registered in the European Union. We congratulate Söke Commodity Exchange and all our producers who devote themselves to cotton and everyone who contributed. This registration we have received for our Söke Cotton will create more added value.”
Turkish Cotton was branded with ‘GMO Free Turkish Cotton’…
Underlining that Türkiye is one of the rare countries producing GMO-free cotton, President Eskinazi highlighted that the only countries producing GMO-free cotton in the world are Türkiye, Greece and Spain.
“In our region, sustainable cotton production such as organic cotton production, better cotton, regenerative cotton is intensively produced. In organic cotton production, we are the second highest producing country in the world after India. Another important point is that all of the cotton produced in Türkiye is GMO-free cotton. Our brand registered with the phrase ‘GMO FREE Turkish Cotton’ has become ready for the use of the whole sector. ‘GMO FREE Turkish Cotton’ created a privileged brand for the Turkish textile industry and provided Turkish cotton production an important status in the world. We continue our projects on sustainable cotton production and digital agriculture projects. We emphasise the sustainability of Turkish cotton by cooperating with global initiatives such as the ‘Better Cotton Initiative’,” Eskinazi concluded…