COTTON'S AGENDA

U.S. Cotton Capitalizing

Global demand for cotton and cotton products is experiencing an upturn – and the National Cotton Council’s export promotions arm, Cotton Council International (CCI), is ensuring U.S. cotton is a major player in refilling fiber and textile pipelines.

What are U.S. cotton’s export numbers?

Through Dec. 2, U.S. cotton already had 13.76 million bales of export business on the books for the 2010 marketing year that ends on July 31, 2011 – which would appear to be well on pace to meet or even exceed USDA’s 2010 projection of 15.75 million bales total exports. In addition, U.S. cotton as of that date had 1.46 million bales sold ahead for the 2011 marketing year.

How important are public funds to CCI?

The private/public export promotion effort is extremely important for cotton and cotton products. CCI is solidly backed by the industry and is the largest recipient of USDA’s Market Access Program and Foreign Market Development program funds. A respected private economic/financial analysis found these programs provide a basis for coordinated U.S. market development efforts that otherwise would be fragmented, under-funded or non-existent. They found that during 2002-09, U.S. agricultural exports were $6.1 billion higher as a result of government/industry increased investment. That’s why the NCC continues to make the case in the House and Senate that these export promotion programs are WTO compliant and as critically important today as they were 50 years ago. That’s especially true in light of the Administration’s calling for a doubling of U.S. exports by 2015. CCI also benefits from the strong financial support of multiple U.S. cotton organizations, including the largest contributor, Cotton Incorporated, which collaborates with CCI on a number of key promotional efforts.

How does CCI continue to build demand and increase exports?

CCI is working with its partners and licensees throughout the global cotton supply chain to strengthen demand for U.S. cotton and cotton products. Activities, which call attention to U.S. cotton’s positive qualities, fall under: 1) fiber servicing, 2) U.S.-made textile promotions, 3) supply chain marketing, 4) COTTON USA Mark licensing and promotion and 5) underlying cotton demand building at the consumer level. The recent sixth biennial Sourcing USA Summit in California is but one of many success stories. Organized by CCI and Cotton Incorporated with support from the U.S. cotton industry and USDA, the event attracted 450 global cotton textile industry leaders from 24 countries – and resulting sales of U.S. cotton were impressive. Another success story was the third COTTON USA Cotton School in China where mills and manufacturers learned more about U.S. cotton. During the Cotton School week plus the four weeks after, China bought an average of 91,000 bales per week compared with the 15,000 bales per week during the same period in 2009.

Although China is the largest U.S. raw cotton customer, CCI continues to cultivate other important markets, among them Turkey, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The coordinated efforts of CCI and Cotton Incorporated are enhancing U.S. cotton’s opportunities in world markets.

Mark Lange is president and chief executive officer for the National Cotton Council of America. He and other NCC leaders contribute columns on this Cotton Farming page.