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India : Cancun Disappoints Cotton Traders |
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2003-9-18
Cotton traders in India were disappointed at the collapse of world
trade talks in Mexico but said the absence of an agreement on the core farm subsidies issue was better than a distorted pact.
World trade talks vital for the global economy collapsed in Mexico on Sunday after rich and poor states fought bitterly over farm reform and new rules to slash red tape and corruption.
"Cotton was at the centre of the agriculture subsidies issue and it was as well not to have an agreement without addressing the subsidy problem," said D.K. Nair, secretary general of the Indian Cotton Mills Federation.
Siddhartha Rajagopal, executive director of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council, which represents 6,000 Indian exporters, said subsidies given by the developed countries to cotton farmers weredepressing markets and distorting prices.
Indian traders want subsidies to be cut immediately and eliminated as soon as possible.
"It is better that the talks collapsed rather than resulting in a
distorted agreement which you regret later," Rajagopal said.
"At the end of the day, you have to marry tariff reduction programmes in developing countries with high subsidies given in developed countries to agriculture products like cotton," he said.
India charges a 10 percent import duty on cotton.
Nair said the United States, the world''s largest producer of cotton,
extends the highest subsidy to its farmers."The United States gives $3.0 billion of subsidy to its cotton producers, which is equal to our annual cotton textile exports," Rajagopal said.
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