So British industrialists climbed up the value ladder, as you do when you&#x27;re trying to create wealth.  They did the same thing with porcelain, once they figured out the process.<p>Right around 1830 was when the American Southern cotton plantation system took off, and more or less completely displaced Indian cotton on the world market[1] because it was cheap, cotton gins were efficient, and it was a whole lot closer to ship it from Mobile or Charleston to Birmingham, than to go all the way down around the Cape and back.<p>Opium became a huge export for India because it was the only thing other than bullion the Brits (and Americans, and Dutch, and Portuguese) could hit on to trade profitably in the China market.  Then, later, that cash crop was undercut by cheaper product produced in Turkey, and by Chinese domestic production.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cotton_gin#Effects_in_the_United_States" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Cotton_gin#Effects_in_the_Unit...</a>