2010 cottons week header
PHYTOGEN_CMYK_275x77px
twitter
October 1, 2010
 

CAAG2PHYG085_PhytoGen_Harvests_National_289x640_STATIC_200K_03-15

™ ®Trademarks of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies. ©2024 Corteva.




 
PAST ISSUES/ARCHIVES
 
Cotton's Week: March 22, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 15, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 8, 2024
Cotton's Week: March 1, 2024
 
 


 
Government Spending Bill Passes Before Adjournment

After wrapping up work on a must-pass government spending bill and a package of nominations, Congressional Members returned to their home states to campaign for re-election. Congress will adjourn until the week of Nov. 15, when they plan to return for a lame-duck session following the elections.

When the Senate returns in November, they are expected to take up an omnibus Senate appropriations bill, expiring tax cuts, food safety legislation and other issues. Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) said that chamber will break for the Thanksgiving holiday but will be back for an undetermined period in December. Sen. Reid reached an agreement with Minority Leader McConnell (R-KY) that the Senate will hold a series of so-called pro forma sessions during the next six weeks. That ensures that President Obama will not be able to make recess appointments while lawmakers are away.

The House and Senate approved a stop-gap bill (H.R. 3081) to fund the federal government through Dec. 3 as one of its last actions before adjournment. President Obama signed the bill before the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. The continuing resolution (CR) gained bipartisan support in the Senate on a vote of 69 to 30. Among the Republicans joining Democrats in voting for the CR were Sens. Kyl (R-AZ) and Alexander (R-TN), who are members of the Senate Republican leadership team, and Appropriations Committee ranking member Sen. Cochran (R-MS). House Republicans were more united in their CR opposition. The CR was approved 228 to 194 with only one Republican — Rep. Cao (R-LA) — voting in favor.

 
House Approves Currency Reform Bill

The House passed by a vote of 348-79 the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act (H.R. 2378) that targets China's undervalued currency as a countervailable subsidy. Only five Democrats voted against the legislation, while 99 Republicans voted for it.

Action on legislation in the Senate is possible during a lame-duck session following the November mid-term elections. Sen. Schumer (D-NY) said he would pursue his Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2010 (S. 3134) during the lame-duck session scheduled following the November elections.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Levin (D-MI) believes there will be time in a lame duck session for a conference to resolve differences in the House and Senate passed measures.

Current plans call for the Senate to convene the first part of the lame duck session during the week of Nov. 15. After a break for Thanksgiving, the Senate will return during the week of Nov. 29. No target for adjournment in December has been announced. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus (D-MT) previously has introduced legislation, the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1607), which was approved by the Senate Finance Committee in 2007 by a 20-1 vote, but the measure did not go any further.

The Ways and Means Committee approved a chairman's amendment in the nature of a substitute, which modified the original legislation, introduced by Reps. Ryan (D-OH) and Murphy (R-PA), to be consistent with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

The House-passed bill would change the longstanding Commerce Dept. practice of refusing to investigate a subsidy where individuals or groups other than exporters benefitted from the subsidy. The bill also establishes a four-part test to determine if a currency was substantially undervalued, including determinations of whether there are large-scale government interventions in the markets, undervaluation of at least 5%, a significant and persistent global current account surplus, and excessive foreign asset reserves.

Chairman Levin said he and his staff essentially were successful in making H.R. 2738 WTO-compliant. He said there always could be an argument as to whether any measure was compliant with the WTO.

The Obama Administration has not established a position on the currency legislation, other than saying it should be WTO-compliant and effective in addressing problems in the US-China trade relationship. In a visit with an Iowa family, the President said the reason he was pushing China on its currency is because it is undervalued.

The President also directly addressed the currency issue with Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao at recent United Nations General Assembly meetings.

Chairman Levin said he believed the House bill’s passage would propel further efforts during the Group of 20 leading economies meetings in Seoul, South Korea next month.

Rep. Flake (R-AZ) said that unilateral legislation was unlikely to encourage China to change its exchange rate policy and likely to have the opposite effect of promoting retaliation, noting that China recently had elected to exclude US poultry exports to China. He also said he was not convinced that the bill would create more jobs overall, but merely make goods more expensive for US consumers. He said the legislation was unlikely to make a positive difference to the US-China trade relationship and merely constituted pandering before mid-term elections.

The National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) applauded the House’ passage of the newest China currency legislation.

“This historic vote today brings U.S. manufacturers one big step closer to fair competition in the global marketplace and to a strong economic recovery,” NCTO President Cass Johnson stated. “For the first time in a decade, US textile mills are adding jobs and re-opening plants. If China allowed its currency to appreciate to market levels, we believe the textile industry in the United States would add thousands of additional new jobs, build or re-open dozens of plants and revitalize essential export trade with our Western Hemisphere partners.  This bill starts our country and our manufacturing industry on the road back. We urge the Senate to make passage of this bill a top priority.”

 
Cottonseed Pilot Endorsement Approved For ’11 Crop

The Cottonseed Pilot Endorsement (CPE) will be available for sale for the ’11 crop year in all states and counties in which upland or Extra Long Staple cotton crop insurance is available.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC) Board of Directors had approved the CPE on July 30, ’09. The CPE is a privately developed product that was submitted to the FCIC Board under Section 508(h) of the Federal Crop Insurance Act by Plains Cotton Growers Assoc. The NCC sent a letter to the FCIC Board endorsing the product.

The CPE provides yield coverage for cottonseed as an optional endorsement to a buy-up cotton policy. Under the CPE, cotton lint production is converted to a cottonseed equivalent to form the basis of insurance and to calculate indemnities. For more information on the CPE, contact your crop insurance agent.

 
Lincoln Companion Bill Introduced

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Peterson (D-MN) introduced H.R. 6273 which would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to prohibit additional permits under the Clean Water Act (CWA) for pesticide application when pesticides are applied consistent with FIFRA. The bill is similar to those introduced by Rep. Lucas (R-OK) and Sen. Lincoln (D-AR).

“This legislation provides farmers and ranchers with the safe harbor they deserve in the application of pesticides,” Peterson said. “The bill relieves producers from a potentially costly regulatory burden that does little if anything to protect the environment.In the decades since Congress enacted the CWA, EPA has never issued a permit for the application of a pesticide. Instead, EPA has regulated these types of applications through FIFRA, enacted by Congress to control all aspects of pesticide registration, sales and use. The FIFRA registration process includes stringent requirements for a wide range of environmental, health and safety studies to establish the circumstances under which pesticides can be legally used in the United States.”

Chairman Peterson’s billis a response to the ’09 decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, which overturned a ’06 EPA rule exempting the permitting of certain pesticide applications from the CWA. The Court’s decision marked a pre-emption of FIFRA by the CWA for the first time in the history of either statute. The bill would make clear that producers who are in compliance with the requirements of FIFRA are not subject to CWA permits.

 
Bill Would Give Agriculture Voice in EPA

The Representation for Farmers Act, a bi-partisan bill, has been introduced in the Senate by Sens. Klobuchar (D-MN) and Lugar (R-IN). The legislation would give the Secretary of Agriculture the authority to appoint up to three members to EPA’s Science Advisory Board. Currently, that Board has 50 members, none of which have an agricultural background.

The bill is designed to make sure American farmers are represented in the decision-making process for environmental policies and regulations that could impact agriculture.

"Our farmers deserve to be represented in any decisions that affect their ability to continue to grow and produce the highest-quality food in the world," Sen. Klobuchar said. "This bill will give farmers a seat at the table and ensure that common-sense considerations are taken into account for any environmental policies."

The addition of farmers would allow the Board not only to provide sound scientific analysis but also practical analysis of how proposed regulations and standards would be implemented on the ground. Recently, regulations that have been proposed by the EPA have raised concerns with farm groups. Among them are dust provisions on dirt roads and requirements for dairies to have spill prevention plans that are designed for oil operations.

"Regulatory actions taken by the EPA can have significant impacts on farmers of all sizes," Sen. Lugar said. "The ability of our nation's farms to continue to safely produce an abundant food supply is imperative, and I believe this bill will improve the regulatory decision-making process."

During a hearing last week scheduled by Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chair Lincoln (D-AR) on EPA's impact on agriculture, Sen. Klobuchar discussed the bill and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said she was open to the legislation and asked to see the bill’s provisions.

 
House Members Push Back on Dust

In yet another push back on EPA’s agenda, 75 House members urged EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson not to move forward with tougher air quality rules on dust. The letter, circulated by Rep. Lummis (R-WY), was signed by 62 Republicans and 13 Democrats who are worried about a potential tightening of the air quality standards under the Clean Air Act for coarse particulate matter. The letter is similar to one sent by Sen. Grassley (R-IA) in July.

"This unreasonable requirement will cause extreme hardship to farmers, livestock producers and other resource-based industries throughout rural America,” explained Lummis in a statement. “People in the West and those in dry climates will be hit especially hard. It's time the EPA rethink the consequences the farm dust regulation will have on the people who feed us."

Jackson will need to make the final call on the air quality rules. A draft assessment released by EPA earlier this year said the agency would be justified in tightening the standard despite opponents’ cries that there is no additional human health data to support such a reduction.

EPA recently has come under heightened criticism from Congress. In a hearing last week, Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chair Lincoln (D-AR) and other committee members blasted Administrator Jackson on recent EPA actions, including pesticide permitting and the proposed dust rule. More recently, Reps. Lucas (R-OK), Graves (R-MO) and Hastings (R-WA) hosted a forum entitled, “The EPA’s Assault on Rural America: How New Regulations and Proposed Legislation are Stifling Job Creation and Economic Growth.”

 
Sales Reach Marketing Year High

Net export sales for the week ending Sept. 23 were 815,600 bales (480-lb) – a marketing-year high. This brings total ‘10-11 sales to approximately 9.2 million bales. Total sales at the same point in the ’09-10 marketing year were approximately 3.6 million bales. Total new crop (’11-12) sales are 608,800 bales.

Shipments for the week were 164,400 bales, bringing total exports to date to 1.5 million bales, compared with the 1.4 million bales at the comparable point in the ’09-10 marketing year.

 

 
Effective October 1-7, ’10

Adjusted World Price, SLM 11/16

95.77 cents

*

Fine Count Adjustment ('09 Crop)

 0.74 cents


Fine Count Adjustment ('10 Crop)

  0.84 cents


Coarse Count Adjustment

  0.00 cents


Marketing Loan Gain Value

 0.00 cents


Import Quotas Open

10


Special Import Quota (480-lb bales)

682,533


ELS Payment Rate

0.00 cents


*No Adjustment Made Under Step I

 

Five-Day Average



Current 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East

112.61 cents


Forward 5 Lowest 3135 CFR Far East

NA


Coarse Count CFR Far East

NA


Current US CFR Far East

113.75 cents


Forward US CFR Far East

NA


 

'09-10 Weighted Marketing-Year Average Farm Price  
 

Year-to-Date (August-July)

62.45 cents

**


**August-July average price used in determination of counter-cyclical payment