Ikea’s cotton sourcing from India to increase

Swedish home furnishing major Ikea, which is set to start retail operations in India next year, is increasing sourcing of cotton from the country for its textile requirements.

Ikea, which is working with around four lakh farmers in India through local partners under the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) programme, is sourcing almost one-third of its global requirements from India.

“Till now, Ikea retail was not present in India. Given the retail plan which we have till 2025, obviously sourcing of sustainable textiles from India would increase dramatically even for the local market,” Ikea cotton leader Pramod Singh said in Almhult in Sweden, where Ikea had opened its first store.

Ikea’s first store in India is scheduled to open in the second half of 2017 in Hyderabad. It has plans to open 25 stores in the country by 2025.

Ikea had sourced goods worth 315 million euros from India, in which textiles contributed around 70 per cent. While he did not share details of cotton sourcing, in 2015, the company had sourced around 35 per cent of its cotton from India followed by Pakistan at 21 per cent.

Indian cotton is used by not only Indian suppliers, but Ikea’s suppliers in Bangladesh, he said, adding that “India is the source of one-third cotton of Ikea”.

Singh said the number of farmers who are working in this grid has to be increased because four lakh is not a big number. Ikea intends to bring more and more farmers under our projects and initiatives.”

Ikea trains farmers under its better practices about traditional and genetically modified cotton seeds and their usage. The company has globally over 100 suppliers for cotton and 11 are from India. Ikea is the founding member of BCI, which aims to promote measurable improvements in the key environmental and social impact of cotton cultivation worldwide to make it more sustainable.