TN/AG/43  
TN/AG/SCC/14  
 
21 January 2020  
(20-0558) Page: 1/3 
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  
Sub-Committee on Cotton    
 
TWELFTH  DEDIC ATED DISCUSSION OF T HE RELEVANT  
TRADE -RELATED  DEVELOPMENTS FOR COTTON  
20 NOVEMBER  2019 
Report1 by the Chairman , Ambassador John Ronald Dipchandra (Deep) Ford  
1. Pursuant to the Bali Ministerial Decision on Cotton  of 7 December 20132 and the Nairobi 
Ministerial Decision on Cotton  of 19 December 20153, the 12th Dedicated Discussion of the Relevant 
Trade-Related Developm ents for Cotton  took place on 20 November  2019. The Dedicated Discussion 
was held back -to-back with the 3 2nd Round of the Director -General's Consultative Framework 
Mechanism on Cotton  (DGCFMC) de aling with  the development  assistance aspects of Cotton . 
2. In my introductory remarks, I congrat ulated  all stakeholders on the successful launch of the 
World Cotton Day (WCD)  on 7 October 2019. I highlighted  the success of WCD from historical, 
social and economic standpoint s and noted that the event marked , once again , the importance of 
the Cotton do ssier at the WTO , both on trade and development, particularly for developing and least 
developed countries. The WTO Secretariat, the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and 
UNIDO  shared reports and figures on the launch event.  
3. I updated Members on the state of play in  the Cotton negotiations . I noted that , during 
the two CoA Special Session meetings held on 26 September and 28 October 2019 , Members had 
the opportunity to react to my report entitled "Working Towards Doable Elements for Meaningful 
Outcomes"  circulated on 31 July 2019 to identify steps towards possible landing zones.  The 
discussions had once again confirmed that Domestic Support and Cotton remain ed priority issue s 
for most Members. Some Members had also demonstrated a growing interest for Market Access , 
while past positions on PSH, SSM, Export Restrictions and Export Competition generally remained 
unchanged.  
4. On Cotton specifically, I reported on two recent significant  developments : (1) a draft 
Ministerial Decision on Cotton4 circulated by the C4 and introduced at the CoA special Session 
meeting of 26  September ; and (2) the joint statement5 adopted by the C4, Brazil, China, 
Côte d'Ivoire, India, the EU and the US at the High -Level Trade Session on Cotton I chaired on the 
occasion of the launch of WCD on 7 October. The joint statement confirmed the commitment of 
participants to intensify discussions focusing on factors negatively impacting Cotton trade  and 
markets and to continue efforts aimed at enhancing transparency and monitoring of Cotton-related 
trade measures affecting the global Cotton market.  
5. I reminded Members that our immediate task was to explore  how we c ould build upon these 
two developmen ts to advance  the work on Cotton, with a view to achieving a meaningful outcome 
by MC12. I urged Members to submit new proposals and inputs and express specific ideas to reach 
                                                
1 This report is circulated under the Chair's own responsibility.  
2 Document WT/MIN(13)/41 – WT/L/916, dated 11 December 2013 . 
3 Document WT/MIN(15)/46 – WT/L/981, dated 21 December 2015 . 
4 Document TN/AG/GEN/49/Rev.1 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/20/Rev.1, dated 1 8 September 2019.  
5 Document JOB/AG/165  – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/21 , dated 10 October 2019.  TN/AG/43 • TN/AG/SCC/14  
 
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  that objective . I noted  that the next step in the agriculture negotiations proce ss would be the 
CoA Special Session and the Cotton Quad Plus meeting scheduled on 25 and 26 November.  
6. Under the agenda item " General Statements from Members ", Benin, on behalf of the C4, 
applauded the great success of the WCD celebration . The C4 noted that the draft  UN resolution to 
recognize  7 October as WCD was currently be ing reviewed by the UN General Assembly  and looked 
forward to its adoption . The C4 urged all WTO Members  to ensure the effective implementation and 
monitoring of the results and commitments made during  WCD. In particular, t he C4 welcomed the 
joint statement adopted by key Cotton players and called on Members to remain engaged with a 
view to achieving substantial and measurable results by MC12. The C4 also invited Members to 
consider its latest draft Ministerial Decision on Cotton which differed significantly from its previou s 
proposal submitted in October 2017.  
7. Members joined the C4 in lauding  the successful launch of the WCD. Jamaica , on behalf of the 
ACP Group,  and Chad underscored  the economic and social  importance of Cotton to their countries , 
noting that some  African countries had the highest number of women Cotton farmers in the world, 
and the role of Cotton in creating employment  and empowering women .  
8. The ACP Group reiterated the message conveyed at WCD that Cotton was a significant  issue 
at the WTO which deserved a swift resolution. The ACP Group recalled the commitments reflected 
in the General Council Decision  of August 2004  and the Hong Kong Ministerial Decision and urged 
Members to continue  negotiations on eliminating trade -distorting  domestic support  to Cotton. Chad  
called on Members' collective efforts to achieve consensus on Cotton negotiations and to ensure that 
the UN officially approved and acknowledg ed a WCD.  
9. Brazil , as one of the  largest  exporter s of Cotton in the world , also underlined the importance 
it attached to Cotton. Brazil noted that its Minister of Agriculture attended WCD  and reiterated  
Brazil's  commitment  to implement  WTO mandates  and to engage in negotiations  on Cotton, both on 
trade and development  aspects.   
10. The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)  made  a detailed presentation on 
the latest developments in the global Cotton  market  with a focus on: (1) w orld Cotton production, 
consumption, export and imports ; (2) Intra -African trade ; and (3) domestic  support trends in 
Cotton.  
11. Chad sought ICAC's view on  the impact  of decreasing global Cotton production due to natural 
disasters and of the US/China trade crisis on Cotton prices  and C4 and LDCs  exports . Chad also 
requested  details about the countries exporting Cotton to Bangladesh, a country  which had been 
identified by  ICAC as one of the top Cotton  import ers. 
12. Considering  ICAC's observation that nearly all Cotton produced in Africa was shipped outside 
of the continent due to limited  spinning and textile manufacturing infrastructure, Burkina  Faso noted 
its interest in  developing the Cotton processing industrie s in Africa to create more wealth and to be 
less depend ent on sales of raw Cotton to the world. Mali enquired whether th e significant drop in 
US exports to China as a result  of the  trade war would  benefit West Africa n Cotton exporters .   
13. I sought clarifications from ICAC on: (1) whether the drop in China's Cotton imports from the 
US between  2003/2004 and 2018/2019 reflected a decline over time  or was a result  of the US-China 
trade war ; (2) why China's imports from Africa  had decreased rather than increase d given  that China 
had imported less from the US during th at same period ; and (3) why de spite the depicted negative 
relationship  between prices and subsidies , recent simultaneous decline s on prices and subsidies had 
been observed.   
14. ICAC noted that the  lost shares of US imports to China had been taken up by Brazil and India 
and in its view the US could face a challenge to recover  the market share after the trade conflict was 
resolved. ICAC considered  it possible for Western Africa to take the opportunity and  export more t o 
China  but it would require  infrastructure  to ship Cotton to China and traders' ability to sell Cotton  to 
China.  
15. As regards Cotton price s, ICAC noted tha t, due to balanced consumption and production 
levels, prices  had been and would remain relatively stab le over the next year . Indeed, a lthough TN/AG/43 • TN/AG/SCC/14  
 
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  Cotton production decreased in some countries, other countries had produced more,  and the overall 
level of global Cotton production therefore remained generally unchanged.   
16. Concerning Bangladesh 's Cotton imports , ICAC  noted that  Bangladesh's initiative  to connect 
with Africa was one of the reasons why import shares from Africa had grown. ICAC saw the  potential 
for increas ed Africa n export s to Bangladesh bu t emphasized  the importance of  quality  and the need 
for infrastructure to deliver Cotton to Bangladesh  on time .  
17. Considering  the difficulty to improv e Cotton processing capability  in Africa  which  would require  
significant investments , not only for  spinning mills, but also supply of power to the mills, ICAC 
suggested to invest  in garment factories since they were more profitable than spinning mills.   
18. China clarified that the decrease of its imports from the US had already started  before the 
trade war . In the early 2000 s, China imported mostly from  the US and Australia because of the 
textile industry 's demand for good quality and low prices and had later proceeded to diversif y its 
sources of  imports.  
19. The WTO Secretariat presented its revised background paper  and addenda6 which compile s 
information and data from Members' notifications and other submissions on Export Subsidies, 
Domestic Support and Market Access, including both tariff and non -tariff measures. The paper also 
include s Members' latest responses to the questionnaire on Cotton  policy developments, as well as 
relevant information on Cotton  markets and policies included in Trade Policy Review reports.  
20. I reminded Members once again that the quality of the background paper reli ed heavily on 
Members ' efforts in keeping their notifi cations up -to-date and being forthcoming with their 
submissions to the WT O, as all the information contained therein  are sourced from Members ' 
notifications and submissions to the WTO .  
21. The C4 echoed my call and underline d the importance of trade and stati stical data to inform  
the negotiations.  Members were invited to update data on Domestic Support  through regular and 
timely notifications.  
22. While recognizing challenges faced by several Members, particularly some developing country 
Members, in compiling and presenting new notifications , I reiterated  the importance of meeting 
notification obligations. I drew Members'  attention  to the various Secretariat 's techni cal assistance 
activities and tools that were available to assist them in preparing notifications . I also remind ed 
Members that  new information related to Cotton policies c ould be shared through replies to the 
Secretariat questionnaire .  
23. The International Trade Centre (ITC) made a presentation on the Cotton Portal . ITC provided  
an update on the Portal and showcased its  Sustainability Map – a tool providing scalable technical 
assistance and advisory services for companies to assess whether they meet various sustainable 
development criteria in targeted markets.  
24. Benin recalled its previous requests for capacity building and information sharing activities 
about the Cotton Portal to be organize d in C4 countries. Benin suggested t hat those activities benefit 
a broad range of  stakeholders such as Ministry officials, Cotton industry  representatives, Chambers 
of commerce and academics.  
25. In my concluding remarks, I reaffirm ed that the celebration of WCD  had reinforced the 
importance of Cotton as a key crop in global trade and the urgent need for  progress in Cotton 
negotiations . I thanked Members and all partner organizations for their contribution to the meeting 
and encouraged Members to use the information shared at this forum  to advance our discussion s on 
Cotton .  
__________  
                                                
6 Documents TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 11 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 11, TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 11/Add.1 – 
TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 11/Add.1 and TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 11/Add.2 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 11/Add.2,  
dated 11 November  2019, and TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev. 11/Add. 3 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev. 11/Add. 3, dated 
6 December 2019.