Estonia : Kreenholm halts Uzbek cotton in protest of child labour

Matti Haarajoki, General Manager, Kreenholm, the vertically integrated textile company, in a press meet announced that the company had ceased importing cotton from Uzbekistan.
Kreenholm took such action in an attempt to protest against the utilizing child labour in the Uzbekistan cotton field.
Marimekko Corporation a leading textile and clothing design company from neighbour country Finland has also decided to stop procuring cotton goods from Kreenholm, as its partner company in Uzbekistan forces children out of school and into the cotton fields.
Uzbekistan is the second biggest cotton exporter and sixth largest producer in the world. The country exports mainly to the markets like Bangladesh, China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea and Vietnam.