TN/AG/40  
TN/AG/SCC/11  
 
11 February 2019  
(19-0773) Page: 1/4 
Committee on Agriculture  
Special Session  
Sub-Committee on Cotton    
 
TENTH DEDIC ATED DISCUSSION OF T HE RELEVANT  
TRADE -RELATED  DEVELOPMENTS FOR COTTON  
28 NOVEMBER  2018 
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 10th Dedicated Discussion of the Relevant 
Trade-Related Developm ents for Cotton  took place on 28 November  2018. The Dedicated Discussion 
was held back -to-back with the 30th Round of the Director -General's Consultative Framework 
Mechanism on Cotton  (DGCFMC) de aling with  the development  assistance aspects of Cotton . 
2. On the occasion of the 10th Cotton Dedicated Discussion,  I recapped in my introductory 
remarks  the key achievements made on Cotton since  the Ba li Ministerial Decision of 2013. I noted 
that Members  had increased their engagement in both  the trade and  development assistance aspects 
of cotton , with the WTO "cotton days"  duration now being  extended from one to two full days.  
3. I recalled  the success  achieved  on Cotton in Nairobi where  Ministers had agreed to abolish 
agricultural export subsidies for cotton as of 1 January 2017  and had reaffirmed  their commitment 
to improve transparency on trade and policy developments affecting cotton through biannual  
dedicated discussions . In addition, developed  countries and develop ing countries able to do so had 
committed  to grant duty -free and quota -free mark et access for exports of cotton and cotton -related 
products from least -developed countries . 
4. The launch of a joint WTO/ITC Cotton Portal at the 2017 Buenos Aires Ministerial Conference  
represented another significant development for Cotton. The Portal  provide s a single -entry point for 
cotton -specific information on market access, trade statistics, business contacts a nd development 
assistance,  hence  facilitat ing the trade of cotton and the monitoring of Members'  Market Access 
commitments. The Portal ha s been improved with severa l new features since its launch, such as a 
dedicated  ICAC statistics page and a new export poten tial map application to help producers  export 
cotton.  
5. I noted that a ll those achievements demonstrate d Members ' determination and abili ty to 
deliver  results on cotton. I voiced my confidence  that further achievements on cotton , including on 
the outstanding issue of trade -distorting domestic support , could be secured if Members continue d 
to work together and stepped up their  efforts. The 12th Ministerial Conference would be a perfect 
opportunity to  meet the mandated goal  of deliver ing ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically on 
cotton . 
6. The Secretariat presented the improvements made to its background paper 
(TN/AG/GEN/3 4/Rev.9 and addenda) and initiatives  to improve communication and outreach 
regard ing the WTO's work on Cotton. In particular, a new webpage dedicated to WTO "cotton days " 
                                                
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 . TN/AG/40 • TN/AG/SCC/11  
 
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meetings  containing all relevant information, documents and presentations  was now available on 
the WTO website: https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/cottonday2018_e.htm . 
7. Turning to the state of play  in the cotton negotiations, I noted that , since our last meeting,  
cotton  had been  discussed at the CoA Special Session meeting o f 16 July and at a Cotton Quad P lus 
meeting on 20 September. While many Members had expressed support for the C4's objective of 
reaching an outcome on Cotton Domestic Support by M C12, there remained differences in the 
approaches being advocated. On the possible type of outcome on Cotton, s ome Members had 
suggested considering  incremental options, including possibly a stand -alone outcome. Other 
Members had referred  to pa st suggestions including a limit on Cotton trade -distorting support 
expressed as a percentage of Cotton VoP or the need to first address the AMS granted to Cotton 
beyond the de minimis  level. I noted that the C4 had also suggested further disciplines on Gr een 
Box direct payments granted to cotton producers but many Members had opposed the suggestion. 
Finally, I reported that the scope of the Duty -Free Quota -Free regime for imports of Cotton and 
Cotton -related products from LDCs, as well as the need for upda ted and comprehensive data  to 
inform the negotiations on Cotton Domestic Support had also been mentioned .  
8. Concerning the way forward  on cotton , and specifically on the issue of data collection , I 
noted the  C4 report on the repl ies received thus far from key c otton producers and exporters to a 
questionnaire circulated  before the summer break. It was acknowledged that the Secretariat could 
help in the compilation of a common set of data to inform the negotiations. I encouraged key cotton 
players who had not  yet shared their data with the C4 to do so.   
9. Under the agenda item " General Statements from Members ", Benin , on behalf of the C4, 
presented the N'Djamena Ministerial Conference  Declaration on Cotton4, where  C4 Ministers had 
expressed strong concern regarding the lack of results on Cotton Domestic Support, despite the 
mandate  contained in several  WTO Ministerial Decisions.  C4 Ministers urged all Members , particularly 
those providing trade -distorting support to Cotton, to ensur e progress in Cotton  negotiations and to 
notify up -to-date and timely data to support that process. The C4 noted their commitment to jump 
start that  process by updating their own statistics.  
10. The C4 once again  stressed the economic , social,  and structural  interest  of cotton for African 
countries , particularly African LDCs, as well as the crucial role of cotton in achieving  sustainable 
development goal s, particularly  combating poverty and contributing to food security in African LDCs.  
The C4 reiterated their  commitment to pursu e the negotiations on cotton and  called on  Members to 
work towards a substantive and measurable outcome on Cotton by MC12.  Finally, t he C4  informed 
Members of the  N'Djamena Ministerial Conference  decision  to grant C4 observer status to Côte 
d'Ivoire .  
11. Reiterating the importance of cotton to Africa  and stressing the urgency of the issue,  Chad, 
Côte d'Ivoire , the Central Af rican Republic, on behalf of LDC s, and Togo echoed the C4 call for the 
elimination of cotton trade -distorting support.   
12. Brazil , Pakistan and Turkey also took the floor to support the C4 call to address the long -
standing  issue of  trade -distorting support on cotton  as a priority. Turkey suggested a  limit on cotton -
specific support based on  a percentage  of value  of production . Pakistan reiterated its concern with 
increasing  cotton subsidies and the resulting  income losses  for its cotton farmers. In addition to 
voicing  its determination to tackle cotton -specific support, Pakistan  reaffirmed its commitment to 
engage in  pursuing reforms in all pillars, including the elimination of all tariffs and non -tariff barriers 
on cotton.  
13. The European Union  reiterated its commitment to advance the cotton dossier despite its  
marginal role in cotton  production, trade and subsidizatio n. The EU regretted Members' failure to 
reach an agreement at MC11 and called for realistic and balanced approaches to address the issue. 
The EU underlined Members ' commitment to  their transparency obligation s as a key to successful 
negotiations  and, i n addition to providing up -to-date notifications, the EU encouraged Members to 
respond to the Secretariat's and the C4 questionnaire s on cotton  as it had done so itself . 
Furthermore, the EU welcome d and support ed the  idea of aiming at an MC12 Ministerial D ecision to 
establish a Work Programme on Cotton By -Products , noting that , in accordance with the Nairobi 
                                                
4 TN/AG/GEN/48 -TN/AG/SCC/GEN/19 , circulated on 30 November 2018.   TN/AG/40 • TN/AG/SCC/11  
 
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 Ministerial Decision, it had  provided  DFQF access to cotton by -products from LDCs  and was the 
biggest importer of those products among developed countr ies.  
14. The United States  welcomed the Dedicated  Discussion and noted that discussions  needed to 
reflect the current reality of cotton production and trade and focus on factors distorting  the global 
cotton market . The United States drew Members ' attention to  the increased competition brought to 
cotton by  man-made fibres such as polyester s. The United States pointed out that, according to 
ICAC's presentation in June , the availability of lower price d man-made  fibers , result ing from 
government intervention  and overcapacity,  contributed  to a weaker cotton demand . The 
United  States urged Members, particularly those who had  a major impact on  cotton trade, to be 
more transparent regarding their cotton policies  and fill  the information  gap on subsidies granted to 
man-made fibers.   
15. India highlighted  the favourable treatment it granted  to cotton imports from LDCs w ith over 
90% of tariff  lines provided  with DFQF access and imports  from LDCs account ing for nearly 23% of  
its cotton  import s. On domestic support, India reiterated that  the next possible step in negotiations 
should  be to address AMS  support beyond de minimis . China expressed its support  for an  outcome 
on cotton in accordance with the Doha  and Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration s.  
16. The International Cotton  Advisory Committee (ICAC)  made a detailed presentation  on 
the latest development s in the global  cotton market and trade trends .5 Members agree d to change 
the title of this agenda item to "cotton production and trade trends " instead of "recent developments  
in the global cotton market" , so as t o better reflect the subject of the presentation and to avoid 
confusion with ICAC's presentation at the DGCFMC meeting on the development aspects of cotton .  
17. 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 . The 
WTO Secretariat  noted that a new section  on the scheduling of revised export subsidies commitments  
on cotton as per the Nairobi Ministerial Decision  had been  added to the background paper . 
18. I welcomed recently  submitted notifications on the three pillars by several Members as 
detailed in the cotton background paper  and reiterated  the importance and usefulness of the paper 
and encourage d Members  to review and make full use of it. I also reminded Members that the quality 
of the information contained in the Secretariat paper  was fully dependent on the quality 
and timeliness of Members' notifications and  submissions to the WTO, including replies to the 
questionnaire circulated by the Secretariat  
19. Members welcomed both presentations by the  ICAC and the WTO. Benin reiterated its request 
to ICAC to provide a  breakdown of support to cotton by Member and by typ e of support  and noted 
its interest in a detailed analysis o f Green Box support.  Australia sought to understand how ICAC 
had calculated the assistance to cotton. ICAC noted that support  data was collected through a survey 
of each of the countr ies concerned . Regarding  the breakdown of assistance , ICAC pointed to its 
annual publication  on cotton production and trade subsidies  which had been circulated to Members 
through  the WTO Secretariat  and available  on the ICAC website .  
20. The International Trade Centre (ITC) gave a n overview of the Cotton Portal  and its various  
features. The presentation was complemented by the WTO Secretariat's  introduction o f a new user 
guide  for the Portal. The C4 expressed appreciation for the constant improvement of the Portal . 
Burkina Faso 's focal point  reported that it had shared the Portal and  the User G uide with local cotton 
companies and national associations of cotton producers . The Portal was deemed as an extremely 
useful tool as it integrated all cotton -related information  into a single window  and allowed relevant 
agencies to extract information easily . Burkina Faso asked whether non -ITC data could be directly 
fed into the Portal  and be updated on a regular basis. Côte d'Ivoire and Mali echoed Burkina Faso's 
                                                
5 This presentation can be found at:  
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/item_3_icac_cotton_yields_29_november.pdf . 
6 Documents TN/AG/GEN/34/ Rev.9 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev.9, TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev.9/Add.1 – 
TN/AG/SCC/ GEN/13/Rev.9/Add.1, and TN/AG/GEN/34/Rev.9/Add.2 – TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/Rev.9/Add.2, dated 
19 November  2018.  TN/AG/40 • TN/AG/SCC/11  
 
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statement and called on Members  to support the ITC and the WTO  in maintain ing and updat ing the 
Portal.  
21. The ITC noted that the Portal contained  data sourced from various international agencies 
including ICAC  and the WTO and the sources of tho se information  were publicly available  on the 
website . It could  consider adding a section on  data availability to the Portal to include th e sources 
of the data as well as the cut -off date s. The ITC  further  invited  Members to provide any new data in 
addition  to what was currently available on the website.  
22. The United States presented their first communication on Cotton .7 The paper review s data on 
Domestic Support, Market Access and Export S ubsidies for cotton for 23 WTO Members identified by 
the Unite d States as most involved in cotton production and trade. On Market A ccess, the US paper 
focuse s on the difference be tween bound and applied duties and examine s TRQs on cotton . On 
Domestic support, the United States studied  the evolution o f cotton -specific support  between 2001 
and 2017 . Given the absence at the time of recent notifications from some major players, the US 
noted that it had used alternative public sources such as OECD and ICAC  to assess the level of 
support for cotton. The US  also flagged the transparency issue surrounding M embers' export 
subsidies notific ations.   
23. Australia, Brazil, the C4, and the EU  welcomed the paper and supported  the US call for 
increased transparency with re gards to Members ' notifications , particularly key players in the cotton 
market . The C4 called for key cotton producers and exporters including the US to reply to  the data 
request they had circulated as a complement to existing  support  data. The C4  also sought the US' 
view regarding new disciplines for  cotton trade -distorting support and what commitment the US 
could offer in that regard.  The US responded that collecting and sharing accurate and up -to-date 
information on domestic support was a good starting point  to move forward.  
24. The EU also highlighted  the importance of accurate and complete notifications particularly  
from the main  cotton produc ing and subsidizing Members . The EU underlined the importance of 
distinguishing between trade -distorting support and Blue  and Green Box support s in any data 
analysis. Brazil cautioned that analyzing trend s of support using outdated data could lead to 
inaccurate co nclusions. On tariffs, Brazil commented that the large difference between applied and 
bound tariffs on cotton could be a result  of the  lack of a negotiation  outcome  so far . Brazil  therefore  
noted its interest in market access negotiations to further reduce  bound tariffs in addition to domest ic 
support which Brazil saw as a priority . Australia also expressed an interest , as a cotton producer and 
exporter, in tariff reforms which could also benefit cotton growers. Trade-distorting support 
remained  Australia's priority  and it needed to be tackled  in a realistic and achievable manner .  
25. For the first time,  two technical sessions wer e held as part of the meeting. The first session 
was a presentation  on ePing , an SPS and TBT alert system which help s various stakeholders to keep 
track of product requirements in foreign markets including  for cotton. The second session  was a  
hands -on demo  on the Cotton Portal , as requested by the C4 during the June 2018 Dedicated 
Discussion.  Members welcomed both technical sessions , and t he C4 requested further hands -on 
training sessions on the Portal as well as web -based virtual trainings for capital -based experts.  
26. In my  conc luding remarks , I thanked Members and all partner organizations for their 
contribution to advance our work on cotton. I stressed the importance of delivering  results  on cotton, 
given its unique and significant role in many d eveloping economies around the w orld. I added  my 
voice to Members' call for improved transparency, and urged the whole Membership to engage in 
sharing information in a timely and comprehensive manner.  
__________  
                                                
7 Document JOB/AG/144 , dated 25 September 2018.