Sourcing USA Summit Brings Together World’s Top Cotton Buyers and U.S. Cotton Exporters

MEMPHIS – Some 400 of the world’s leading cotton buyers, top executives of major U.S. cotton export organizations and other industry leaders participated in the 2002 Sourcing USA Summit, Nov. 14-17 in Scottsdale, AZ.

Sponsored by the U.S. cotton industry, the event, like the inaugural Summit held in 1999, served to increase demand for U.S. cotton fiber by strengthening relationships between U.S. cotton exporters and buyers from around the world.

Many cotton buyers attending this year’s Summit are considered to be among the top 200 cotton buyers in the world. Initial research suggests that the attending buyers consume 6.5 million bales per annum of which 2.9 million bales are purchased from the U.S. Their annual purchases of U.S. cotton exceed $626 million per year, the average U.S. market share for participating companies is 46 percent, and the attendees together buy nearly 30 percent of all the U.S. cotton exported by the countries represented.

"This Summit enabled new relationships between buyers and U.S. exporters to be established and others to be strengthened," said William B. Dunavant, III, a Memphis cotton merchant and president of Cotton Council International (CCI). "U.S. cotton exporters definitely made sales to these key customers. The Summit was an excellent marketing and selling platform"

The Sourcing USA Summit offered business forums focusing on: the cotton fiber and textile economy, including pricing trends; new seed varieties; Web-based systems and other technological impacts on the industry; manufacturing costs, efficiencies and productivity of the world’s leading cotton product manufacturing countries; consumer trends; and trade agreements, exchange rates and the supply/demand outlook for cotton and cotton products.

A Cotton Innovations Hall provided Summit attendees with an opportunity to see Cotton Incorporated's current research and development activities. Visitors to the Hall:

• Viewed demonstrations of Cotton Incorporated's Engineered Fiber Selection® software programs.
• Evaluated the latest cotton yarn spinning technology, including Murata Vortex Spinning and Suessen Elite® compact spinning.
• Handled the latest in fabric development, including 100% cotton "mechanical stretch" woven fabrics, seamless knitting technology and current Fabricast™ knit and woven development fabrics.
• Explored the expanding frontiers of cotton's performance through application of novel chemistries and dyeing and finishing techniques, including microencapsulation, moisture vapor transport, flame retardancy, antimicrobial treatment, improved color retention and wrinkle-resistance.
• Reviewed home fabric and apparel color and trend forecasts for 2002 and 2003.

Cotton Council International and Cotton Incorporated worked with the leadership of the U.S. cotton industry and USDA’s Foreign Agriculture Service to organize this event, which was scheduled to be held last fall but postponed due to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. CCI is the export promotion arm of the Memphis-based National Cotton Council, and Cotton Incorporated is the research and promotion organization of U.S. cotton producers and importers. The two organizations collaborate to expand overseas markets for U.S. cotton and its products.

Primary 2002 Summit sponsors were: Dunavant Enterprises, Inc.; ECOM USA; Southwestern Irrigated Cotton Growers Association (SWIG) Inc.; Paul Reinhart, Inc.; Plains Cotton Cooperative; CALCOT, LTD; Cargill Cotton Inc. ; Allenberg Cotton Co.; Staplcotn; Weil Brothers-Cotton, Inc.; J.G. Boswell Company; Supima Association of America; Jess Smith and Sons Cotton; San Joaquin Valley Quality Cotton Growers Association; and Plexus Cotton Ltd.

Allied sponsors included: Delta & Pine Land Co., Dow AgroSciences, Lummus Corporation, Cotton Outlook, Globecot, Inc., Wakefield Inspection Service Inc., Affinity Trading, LLC, Continental Eagle Corporation, Monsanto Ag Products Co., The Seam, Cargo Control Group, Stoneville Pedigreed Seed Company, John Deere, CoBank, E-Cotton, Inc., Rabobank International, SGS Societe Generale de Surveillance; Syngenta, Trutzschler, Inc. and American Savio Corporation.