Floods to cause shortage of luxury cotton sheets

As you slip between your high quality Egyptian cotton sheets tonight, enjoy – they could be your last set for some time.

The luxury textile industry is in dissaray following last year's devastating floods in Pakistan which killed 1500 and destroyed up to a fifth of its cotton crop supplies.

India has been the winner from the disaster and will produce nearly 32 million bales of cotton in 2011 – up from 28 million bales in 2010.

Briscoes, importer of the greatest volume of bed linen in New Zealand, said prices had risen 40% in the past six months.

Group manager Rod Duke said this was to be attributed to a "crop failure" in Pakistan. "Prices have gone through the roof," he told the Sunday Star-Times.

"There is a lot less [Egyptian cotton linen] around and what is available is heavily priced."

Duke said consumers were continuing to buy the product despite the price hike, but this could be a result of them realising that supplies could be completely depleted.

A salesperson at an Auckland branch of Bed Bath and Beyond said once current stock levels were sold, there would be no more for up to two years.

The salesperson said the alternative was microfibre sheets.

Kendra Brogan, director of online importer The Egyptian Cotton Shop, said she had noticed a jump in prices since around October last year.

"Prices have gone up around 17% but I don't think this is likely to affect people buying it, because people just love Egyptian cotton," she said.

She said the price increase would not be passed onto consumers until her current stocks were sold and a new shipment arrived in maybe July or August.

(Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/4736551/Floods-to-cause-shortage-of-luxury-cotton-sheets)