The International Consultative Committee for Cotton held in Tashkent the 76th plenary session on "Cotton in the era of globalization and technological progress". This time it coincided with the beginning of the 13th International Uzbek cotton and textile fair, in which the head of the Transnistrian textile company traditionally takes part every year. Its organization is carried out by order of the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev with the purpose of expanding international scientific and technical cooperation, solving urgent scientific and technological problems of the industry, etc. The personal participation of the Head of the Republic in organizing the events of the fair and the committee shows the level of interest of the Uzbek authorities in matters of cotton growing. Since 2005, all the major players of the world cotton and textile industry regularly gather in Tashkent to participate in this event. This time, 1500 delegates from 50 countries took part in the work of the plenary meeting of the ICAC and the International Cotton Fair.

As for the International Consultative Committee on Cotton, which was established as early as the fall of 1939 in Washington, its main task is more ambitious. The main purpose of the meeting at the international forum site is to assist in solving all issues of global importance related to the production, sales and processing of cotton, but the ICAC does not deal with pricing issues and does not affect the market mechanisms of the cotton industry. Today, more than 40 countries of the world are members of IADC. Since cotton is the main raw material on which the production of the largest flagship of the textile industry of Transnistria works, the participation of its head in the work of the ICAC certainly carries an operational and strategic concept for the entire industry in the republic as a whole.

The Director General of Tirotex textile company, Andrey Mezhinskiy, reported on the progress of the business program in the framework of the plenary session, the supreme body of the ICAC.

- The event was officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Republic of Uzbekistan Z. Mirzaev. In his opening remarks, he welcomed guests from all over the world, and on behalf of all delegates of the ICAC, the official representative of the host country of the previous 75th plenary meeting, the Secretary of the Ministry of Textile of Pakistan, Hassan Iqbal, made a welcoming speech.

- Why is it important for Tirotex to take part in such events?

- We must understand that the main share in the cost of production, which we produce, is cotton. And the slightest fluctuations in its price, problems in terms of its fiber, volumes of supply or complexity in logistics are all fundamentally important for the strategic development of our enterprise and the vision of its further financial and economic activity for the near future. To make it clear in figures - of the total cost of output of finished products, 35% is cotton, the rest is chemistry, furniture, wages, energy, depreciation of new equipment and other fixed costs. Thus, the largest share of costs - more than a third, accounted specifically for cotton. The volumes of its purchases by Tirotex are also quite impressive. So, for example, from October 2016 to May 2017 inclusive - by railway cargo transportation the enterprise brought cotton of the harvest of the last year in the volume of 12 thousand 685 tons. If we consider that one car can hold about 60 tons, then it leaves more than 200 cars. And if we take into account that besides cotton, we purchase even a combed yarn of high numbers, from which weaving produces satin and percale fabric, it becomes clear why the"white gold" is strategically important for Tirotex.

- Are these volumes acceptable for each textile enterprise?

- No, because at present such a level of production is not available to a number of geographically closest competitors. On the territory of the CIS countries and in the EU countries - nowhere are such full-cycle enterprises that would take raw materials and produce a ready-made products of high quality. In this respect, Tirotex is really a unique enterprise equipped with the most modern equipment park.

- Mr. Mezhinskiy, please tell us more about the production facilities of Tirotex.

Being guided by the sad experience of our foreign colleagues, the management of our enterprise has come to a common opinion that working on low-tech equipment, we will not be able to offer our customers a high-quality modern product. Therefore, with the advent of the investor, it was decided to re-equip the spinning, weaving, finishing and sewing industries. In total, about $ 180 million was invested in the modernization of equipment for the specified period. This is a colossal amount, even by the standards of our state. So, relying on facts, this amount even exceeds the revenues of the consolidated budget of Transnistria for the current year - the Supreme Court determined this amount of 2 billion 395 million rubles, which is 159, 7 million USD. By the way, we continue to invest in our production so far. Technologies do not stand still, but develop with enormous speed. Our task is not to lag behind and offer our customers the most modern product, and this requires constant investments from our side. Practice has shown that Tirotex has chosen the right vector of development, since the fate of all similar manufactures that appeared simultaneously with the Tiraspol Textile factory in the post-Soviet space in the last century has already been decided. Unfortunately, they were not able to adapt in time to the new times and requirements of their customers.

- What is the emphasis on production of Tirotex today?

Thanks to the mastering of modern high-performance technologies by finishing production, today the order book is quite voluminous and varied, as new products manufactured on a new digital printing machine are included in the last year. Also finishing production produces special finishes of fabrics: with a silk protein, aloe vera, with vitaminized finishings and with a health improvement - silver ions. This year the main emphasis of technology is made on new fabric structures from noble satin, on exclusive designs of jacquard fabric for home, hotel and dining assortment - all of them are produced from combed cotton yarn of high numbers. A wide range of products under the brand "Tirotex" is in demand in dozens of countries, as customers know that the Transnistrian producer is ready to offer not only a variety of products, but also high quality. This is the guarantee of our sustainable partnership. In addition, I would like to emphasize that no matter how we expand the assortment due to modern finishings of fabrics and various designs of finishing production, it was difficult for our enterprise to do this without "white gold". Therefore, I hope that the 76th plenary meeting of the ICAC in Tashkent will help us to open new prospects for cooperation with suppliers of raw materials and lay the foundation for creating favorable conditions with new partners.