Estimating U.S. Household Demand for Cotton Products: Revising USDA Data

USDA converts textile and apparel trade data from the U.S. Census Bureau into raw fiber equivalents using conversion factors developed by the Economic Research Service.  These data are combined with U.S. mill use to estimate household demand for cotton products.  Technological advances, along with recycling of fibers, indicated the need to revise these conversion factors as cotton spinning has become more efficient.  This presentation discusses updates to the conversion factors and their effect on the U.S. cotton textile trade data.  Results indicate that household demand is now estimated about 4 percent lower.