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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
WHAT IS THE BETTER COTTON INITIATIVE?
The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) helps farmers to grow cotton in a way that reduces stress on the local environment and improves
the livelihoods and welfare of farming communities. All specifications related to the cotton remain the same (quality, lead time,
availability and price). Brands and retailers that support BCI encourage the uptake of Better Cotton throughout their supply chains.
WHAT ARE BETTER COTTON CLAIM UNITS (BCCUs)?
To trace the Better Cotton from yarn spinner to brand or retailer, every kilogram of Better Cotton lint is worth one Better Cotton
Claim Unit (BCCU) – a credit that retailers and brands can request to claim the use and investment in Better Cotton. Because
brands want to encourage the uptake of Better Cotton in the supply chain, they require visibility of how much Better Cotton is
actually used. To gain the required visibility, it is important to collect these BCCUs.
Ginners need to keep 100% Better Cotton bales separated from conventional cotton. After the ginning gate, BCCUs are not linked
anymore to physical Better Cotton. From here on, BCI uses a mass-balance system in which each company needs to calculate
how many BCCUs they have received and how many BCCUs they transferred to their customers.
HOW DOES THE MASS BALANCE SYSTEM WORK?
Each company needs to record how many BCCUs they
have received and how many were transferred. You should
not transfer more BCCUs than you have received.
BCCUs are not linked to physical Better Cotton. This
means that you can deliver any type of cotton yarn
with any properties as Better Cotton by allocating
BCCUs from your balance.
Cotton Procurement
Better Cotton
(1kg +1 BCCU credit)
Better Cotton
(1kg +1 BCCU credit)
BCCU
Conventional Cotton
(1 kg)
BCCU
So if a certain quality of cotton yarn is not available as
Better Cotton, you can replace it with conventional cotton
yarn of the quality / origin that you need as long as you
have a positive BCCU balance.
BCCU
BCCU
HOW DO I RECEIVE BCCUs?
If you buy cotton lint or bales from a trader, the trader
needs to be a member of BCI. If you buy from a ginner, the
ginner needs to be at least registered with BCI. When you
buy ginned cotton, the ginner or trader will provide you
with the declared sales information in BCI’s traceability
system, called ‘Better Cotton Tracer’. This declaration will
state amongst others how much Better Cotton lint you
have received and thus how many BCCUs were transferred
to you.
BCCU
Better Cotton
(1kg +1 BCCU credit)
BCCU
1kg Better Cotton
(1 kg)
Conventional Cotton
(1kg +1 BCCU credit)
Sales
Diagram: MADE-BY
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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
HOW DO I CALCULATE HOW MANY BCCUs I CAN TRANSFER?
One BCCU represents one kilogram of cotton lint used in a product. Due to loss of materials during the spinning process, the
amount of BCCUs can be higher than the kilograms of cotton yarn you have produced.
To help you calculate the correct amount of BCCUs you need to enter the sale of yarn (with Better Cotton equivalent in BBCU’s) in
the Better Cotton Tracer. The Better Cotton Tracer is only accessible for members of BCI. You need to enter:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Name and address of the buyer
Date of declaration
Net weight of yarn (net weight in kilos)
Type of yarn used (carded or combed)
Percentage of BCCU allocation in the yarn
Countries of origin of physical cotton
A screenshot of the fields you need to complete in the Better Cotton Tracer can be found on page 5. After you entered this
information, the Better Cotton Tracer will calculate the amount of BCCUs you are allowed to transfer. All this information will be
captured in an Output Declaration from the Better Cotton Tracer, which you need to send to your customer.
An example of this Output Declaration can be found on page 6.
SO WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?
• You need to be a member of BCI. The trader you buy Better Cotton lint from also needs to be a member of BCI, the ginner
needs to be at least registered with BCI.
• Make sure you receive the Output Declaration of the ginner or trader when purchasing Better Cotton lint and enter the
information of the Output Declaration into the Better Cotton Tracer. Alternatively, the ginner or trader can also enter the
information electronically into the Better Cotton Tracer, in which case you may not receive a physical Output Declaration.
• When you sell yarn, enter the information of the sale into the Better Cotton Tracer and generate an Output Declaration.
• Forward the Output Declaration to your customer.
WHAT IF MY CUSTOMER ASKS FOR BCCUs, BUT I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH BCCUs?
The mass-balance system means you cannot sell more BCCUs than you have bought.
However, to allow for more flexibility, there is the possibility of future option selling; you can temporarily transfer more BCCUs than
you currently have in your balance. This is only allowed under the following two conditions:
• you need to obtain the remaining BCCUs within the next four months.
• the maximum amount that can be traded using future option selling is 500,000 BCCUs (equivalent of 500 MT cotton lint)
So if you have a positive credit of 100,000 BCCUs you can transfer a maximum of 600,000 BCCUs, under the condition that you
will obtain the remaining 500,000 BCCUs within the next four months.
You have:
U
BCCC
B CU
100,000
+
Future option selling:
U
BCCC
B CU
500,000*
=
Maximum transfer of:
U
BCCC
B CU
600,000
* WARNING! You must obtain the remaining BCCU credits within four months or they will become invalid to you and your customer
Further detailed information on chain of custody guidelines can be found at:
http://bettercotton.org/about-better-cotton/better-cotton-standard-system/chain-of-custody/
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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 1
U
BCCC
B CU
Scenario:
You have bought 1,000 kg of Indian Better Cotton lint, which equals 1,000 BCCUs.
1,000 kg
1,000
In addition, you have bought 3,000 kg of Pakistani cotton lint without BCCUs. You keep the
cotton lint stocks in your spinning mill.
3,000 kg
0
Question:
Your customer orders 500 kg of Pakistani yarn delivered as Better Cotton. You use 550 kg of Pakistani cotton lint to spin the
500 kg of yarn. Are you allowed to deliver the 500 kg spun from Pakistani cotton as Better Cotton yarn?
Answer:
Yes. Remember that BCCUs are not linked to physical Better Cotton anymore after you spun the
cotton lint into yarn. You can use the BCCUs and allocate it to any conventional cotton as long
as both cotton stocks are at the same site.
You have used 550 kg of cotton lint to spin the 500 kg of yarn. This means you can transfer
550 BCCUs to your customer. After the transaction you will be left with 450 BCCUs.
U
BCCC
B CU
550 kg
=
550
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 2
U
BCCC
B CU
Scenario:
You bought 2,000 kg of Better Cotton lint from a trader, who couldn’t provide you with an Output
Declaration because he is not a member of BCI.
2,000 kg
0
You have also bought 1,000 kg of Better Cotton lint from a second trader, who did provide you
with an Output Declaration.
1,000 kg
1,000
Question:
Your customer requests 2,000 kg of yarn, with a blend of 75% Better Cotton 25% polyester. You use 1,650 kg of cotton lint to
produce this order. How many BCCUs do you need to transfer, and do you have enough BCCUs?
U
BCCC
B CU
Answer:
You have used 1,650 kg of cotton lint to produce this yarn, therefore you need to transfer 1,650
BCCUs to your customer. But you don’t have enough Better Cotton lint currently as the 2,000
kg you received is from a trader that is not a member of BCI, so it cannot be counted as Better
Cotton. Therefore you have only 1,000 kg of Better Cotton lint, which equals 1,000 BCCUs,
bought from the second trader.
There are 2 options to communicate to your customer.
Option 1: You need to inform your customer that you can only transfer 1,000 BCCUs currently.
Brands and retailers want to collect as many BCCUs as possible, and might be happy to receive
at least some BCCUs.
1,650 kg
1,000
Option 2: You could also investigate future selling. This means you can deliver the yarn with the
1,650 BCCUs now, and purchase the 650 missing BCCUs within the next four months.
1,650 kg
1,650
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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
PRACTICAL EXAMPLE 3
U
BCCC
B CU
Scenario:
You have bought and stored 5,000 kg of Brazilian Better Cotton lint with an Output Declaration
5,000 kg
5,000
You have bought and stored 1,000 kg of ‘Cotton made in Africa’ cotton lint, sold as Better Cotton
with an Output Declaration
1,000 kg
1,000
You have bought and stored 6,000 kg of Australian conventional cotton lint
6,000 kg
0
Question:
You receive the following orders:
• Customer A wants 1,000 kg of Australian yarn, delivered as 100% Better Cotton. You use 1,200 kg of cotton lint to produce
this order.
• Customer B wants 8,727 kg of cotton yarn, delivered as 50% Better Cotton. You use 9,600 kg of cotton lint to produce this
order.
Are you able to deliver this?
Answer:
Yes. ‘Cotton made in Africa’ cotton can be traded as Better Cotton. Traders must also notify ABfT that they have sold this volume
as Better Cotton to the spinner. So in total you have bought 6,000 kg of Better Cotton lint. The ginner or trader will have entered
this information into Better Cotton Tracer, ready for you to accept. After this, you can transfer the BCCUs to your customers. You
can also allocate the BCCUs to the Australian cotton, because you stored all the cotton at the same site.
U
BCCC
B CU
You used 1,200 kg of cotton lint for Customer A, so you need to transfer 1,200 BCCUs to
Customer A.
1,200 kg
1,200
For Customer B, you have used 9,600 kg of cotton lint but only 50% has to be delivered as
Better Cotton. This means you need to transfer 0.5 x 9,600 = 4,800 BCCUs to Customer B.
9,600 kg
4,800
So in total, you need to transfer 1,200 + 4,800 = 6,000 BCCUs to your customers. Because you have already received 6,000
BCCUs you are able to transfer these BCCUs to your customers. To do this, you need to enter the two sales into the Better Cotton
Tracer, generate an Output Declaration for each customer and send it to them.
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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
ENTERING A TRANSACTION IN THE BETTER COTTON TRACER
To enter a transaction in the Better Cotton Tracer, you need to complete the following fields:
After entering the transaction, you can generate an Output Declaration by clicking on this button:
After checking that the content of the Output Declaration is correct, click on the ‘floppy disk’ and save the Output Declaration as a
PDF.
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Better Cotton for Yarn Spinners: How to transfer BCCUs
OUTPUT DECLARATION – YARN SPINNER (EXAMPLE)
Output Declaration Number: 12345
Seller
Buyer
Name: Yarnspinners Inc.
Address: Yarnstreet 20, Yarntown
Country: India
Name: Fabric Mill Inc.
Address: Millstreet 15, Milltown
Country: India
BCI ID Number Yarn Spinner: 12345
BCI ID Number (if applicable): n/a
Important - please note
The transaction listed in this declaration is <transaction status>
Declaration
As the seller I declare that the transaction details provided below are accurate to the best of my knowledge. This data corresponds
to actual transactions of physical cotton made between the seller and the buyer named above, and is in compliance with the
Better Cotton Chain of Custody Guidelines.
Any misrepresentations or anomalies in data following confirmation of the transaction are the sole responsibility of the seller. The
buyer does not assume any liability for false declarations.
Date of
declaration
(dd-mm-yy)
Type of cotton
Volume of yarn
(kg) *
BCCUs
transferred
Country of origin
of yarn
Country of origin
of physical cotton
used
03-02-14
Better Cotton
250 kg
98
Turkey
India, China,
Turkey
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