Cotton bale explained

A cotton bale is a standard-sized and weighted pack of compressed cotton lint after ginning. The dimensions and weight may vary with different cotton-producing countries.[1]

Significance

A bale has an essential role from the farm to the factory. The cotton yield is calculated in terms of the number of bales.[2] Bale is a standard packaging method for cotton to avoid various hassles in handling, packing, and transportation. The bales also protect the lint from foreign contamination and make them readily identifiable.[3]

Cotton bale management system

Bale management encompasses the systematic procedures of categorizing, blending, and assessing bales based on fiber attributes, with the aim of achieving desired quality yarn production at an optimized cost.[4] Cotton fibres differ in terms of staple length and other physical characteristics; this is an inherent feature.[5] Bale management, also known as "bale mixing," is the process of analysing, classifying, and then blending fibres from various bales [which also includes the bales received from other stations] according to their fibre properties in order to create yarn of a specific quality at the most affordable price.[6]

Standards

Bale

A "bale of cotton" is also the standard trading unit for cotton on the wholesale national and international markets. Although different cotton-growing countries have their bale standards, for example, In the United States, cotton is usually measured at approximately 0.48m2 and weighs 226.8kg (500lb).[7] In India, the standard bale size is 170 kg.[8] [9] [10] [11]

Parameters

The most important parameters of a cotton bale are:

Country-wise bale weight!Sr.No.!Country!Bale in kg
1Australia227
2Colombia233
3Egypt327
4India170[13]
5Pakistan170
6Mexico230
7Nigeria185
8South Africa200
9Sudan191
10Tanzania181
11Uganda181
12United States of America225
Advances in standardization are reducing the variation in weights, sizes, dimensions, and densities of cotton bales.[8] [14]

Candy

Candy is another trading unit. A candy weighs approximately 2.09 bales (356 kg).[15] In India, ginned cotton is traded in terms of candy also which weighs 356 kg (355.62 kg).[16] [17]

Trash

When cotton is harvested and exposed to ginning, it carries more than 64% cottonseed, 2% waste and 34% fibrous matter (also known as lint).[18] Lower trash percentage in cotton increases the recovery.[19] Cotton bales are not pure cotton; they contain foreign contaminants, residual trash and leaf (and other non lint material) that have a direct impact on the recovery in yarn spinning.[20] [21]

Gallery

Ginning and bale making

See also

Notes and References

  1. Book: Turner, Joseph Addison. The Cotton Planter's Manual: Being a Compilation of Facts from the Best Authorities on the Culture of Cotton; Its Natural History, Chemical Analysis, Trade, and Consumption; and Embracing a History of Cotton and the Cotton Gin. 1865. Judd. 273. en.
  2. Web site: Cotton Corporation of India. 2021-02-24. cotcorp.org.in.
  3. Book: United States Congress Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry. Standardized Bales of Cotton: Hearing, Seventieth Congress, First Session, on S. 872, a Bill to Standardize Bales of Cotton and Requiring Sale of Cotton by the True Net Weight of Bale. May 16, 1928. 1928. U.S. Government Printing Office. 100. en.
  4. Book: Kumar, R. Senthil . Process Management in Spinning . 2014-09-23 . CRC Press . 978-1-4822-0836-8 . 15, 16, 17 . en.
  5. Web site: admin . 2022-01-28 . Yarn recovery: The He(art) of spinning . 2023-06-25 . Indian Textile Journal . en-US.
  6. Web site: Bale Opener - an overview ScienceDirect Topics . 2023-06-25 . www.sciencedirect.com.
  7. National Cotton Council of America, "U.S. Cotton Bale Dimensions " (accessed 5 October 2013).
  8. Web site: 2012-09-21. Cotton imports may rise four fold as record exports deplete stocks. 2021-02-24. The Financial Express. en-US.
  9. Web site: 2011-09-03. Cotton - International Year of Natural Fibres. 2021-02-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20110903094603/http://www.naturalfibres2009.org/en/fibres/cotton.html. 2011-09-03.
  10. Web site: Measurements - The Farm Hub - Textile Exchange. 2021-02-25. farmhub.textileexchange.org. 2021-05-14. https://web.archive.org/web/20210514160733/http://farmhub.textileexchange.org/learning-zone/glossary/measurements#:~:text=By%20convention,%20a%20%27statistical%27,,%20micronaire,%20strength%20and%20uniformity.. dead.
  11. Web site: Conversion factors. 2021-02-25. www.cottonguide.org. 2022-04-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20220416202423/https://www.cottonguide.org/cotton-guide/conversion-factors/. dead.
  12. Web site: U.S. Cotton Fiber Chart - Bale Sizes. 2021-02-25. Cotton Incorporated. en-US.
  13. http://www.ministryoftextiles.gov.in/sites/default/files/Textiles-Sector-Cotton-Sep19.pdf Cotton Sector
  14. Web site: ISO 8115:1986. 2021-02-25. ISO. en.
  15. News: Press Trust of India. 2017-04-09. MCX traders can see cotton prices in candy too. Business Standard India. 2021-11-01.
  16. Web site: Vora. Rutam. Cotton trade may soon have uniform unit of measurement. 2021-02-24. @businessline. 15 March 2017 . en.
  17. Web site: Cotton Rate, Today's Cotton Price in India: Cotton News on Economic Times. 2021-02-25. The Economic Times.
  18. Book: Akroyd, H. David. Agriculture and Rural Development Planning: A Process in Transition. 2017-10-24. Routledge. 978-1-351-96010-6. 260. en.
  19. Book: Kolanjikombil, Mathews. The Substrates: Fibres, Yarn and Fabrics. 2018. Woodhead Publishing India Pvt Limited. 978-93-85059-90-2. 21. en.
  20. Book: United States Agricultural Marketing Service Cotton Division. The Classification of Cotton. 1965. U.S. Department of Agriculture. 9. en.
  21. Book: Morris. John. The Elements of Cotton Spinning. Wilkinson. F. W.. 1897. Longmans. en.

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