On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 23:48:12 GMT, "Stan Pierce"
Cotton is one of the most distorted markets in the world.The US keeps the world cotton price artificially low through a complicated but deranged subsidy system that basically floods the market with cotton that nobody wants, pulling down prices across the quality spectrum.
Once the yanks get pulled into line, which looks like its going to happen now with the new WTO negotiation, the African cotton becomes the best price for quality point in the global market.And this isnt a new thing either - I can remember when I was living in Boston over ten years ago and there where large international agribusiness interests back then organising capital deals to go into western Africa with, should cotton fall under any new multilateral trade liberalisation deal.
BLOODY QUEENSLANDERS....... 315On Sat, 07 Jan 2006 06:07:49 GMT, "Stan Pierce" Lots actually.Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Benin, Senegal etc. Bad government debts and private sector...
At the moment they sell into highly protected markets like the US and EU that most other nations dont have access to though things like (from memory here - the spelling might be off) the Cotonou Agreement, the Everything But Arms Initiative and the African Growth and Opportunity Act.Preferential access agreements.At the moment West African cotton makes a good quid.It will explode when the global market ceases its enormous distortions.
