quality

quality guides the work of Brazilian producers, researchers, and scientists

With studies and advances in technology, Brazilian cotton presents the necessary level of quality to meet production demands, besides being totally free from contamination and being grown in high-yield areas, ensuring year-round supply.

Brazilian cotton Quality indicators – 2023/24

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Brazilian Cotton Quality Control Program

In 2016, Abrapa (Brazilian Cotton Growers Association) and its state member associations created the Brazilian Cotton Quality Control Program (SBRHVI) to standardize the instrumental classification of cotton by allowing digital access to cotton test data, and ensuring transparency and credibility to the country’s test results.

SBRHVI comprises a set of practices that promote quality standardization parameters and is based on three pillars:

  • Brazilian Reference Center for Cotton Testing (CBRA)

    It is the Central lab that monitors all the laboratories through the CBRA Cotton Check program, ensuring the classification processes standardization. CBRA is currently certified by ICA Bremen and accredited by NBR ISO / IEC 17025 high volume instruments analysis.

  • Brazilian Cotton Quality Database
    An intelligence hub that integrates cotton testing and classification data with the traceability system, and generates the information to be printed on the bar-code labels attached to the bales.

  • Guidance to participating laboratories
    Training, technical visits, and support for laboratories in Brazil to work at the same quality standards and in line with CBRA.

 

100% of Brazilian cotton is tested by high-volume instruments (HVI)

For visual and manual classification, two samples are collected from each bale – from opposite sides.

In the 2023/24 season, over 17 million bales was analysed, conducted by 83 machines in 12 Brazilian Labs.

In the classing labs, there is a correct gauging of humidity and temperature for HVI testing and a double colorimeter is used in High Volume Instrument devices to increase the reliability of the reflectance and yellowness data.

the history


Brazilian cotton has a curious history of resilience and innovation. According to historical reports, local indigenous people used cotton fibers to produce yarns and rustic fabrics. But in 1750 the country discovered the commercial potential of its agricultural production and cotton became a sort of white gold for the domestic economy.

an ancestral fiber 1500

Brazilian indigenous peoples knew and transformed cotton into threads and rustic fabrics even before the arrival of the Portuguese.

the era of "white gold" 1750

Lint production reached commercial levels and emerged as a promising economic activity for Colonial Brazil.

one of the largest cotton growers and exporters 1980

Brazil had remained relevant in the global cotton market. At the time the country’s Northeast region stood out, leading production.

the cotton bollweevil mid1980s

This small insect brought in from abroad devastated cotton fields, especially in the Northeast, destroying entire growing areas.

huge losses early1990s

In addition to the pest, changes in economic policies contributed to the reduction of more than 60% of the cotton acreage. 800,000 people were unemployed by 1995.

overcoming the challenges late1990s

Cotton farming was restored in Brazil through technology advances, and the crop migrated to the Brazilian Midwest, where the plant adapted to the soil and climate.

the Brazilian Cotton Growers Association (Abrapa) is founded 1999

The organization helped spread new farming techniques and good practices. The creation of Abrapa marks a new phase of prosperity and development for cotton.

creation of the Responsible Brazilian Cotton (ABR) socio-environmental certification 2012

Based on regional sustainability practices, a national protocol was established in 2012 for the socio-environmental certification of Brazilian cotton, the ABR..

today cotton is produced across various regions of the country

the biggest producing state are Mato Grosso & Bahia, which grows more than 90% of our fiber

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