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Southern Cotton growers mull CAFTA position |
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2004-7-14
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When Sam Spruell visited Guatemala he was asked only one question: What’s your position on the Central American Free Trade Agreement?
Spruell, the president of the Southern Cotton Growers along with two other Southeastern growers, went to this Central American country to enquire what the manufacturers of this region wanted in the way of U.S. cotton.
It may be noted here that a vast majority of cotton used in cut and sew operations in Guatemala comes from the Southeastern United States.
All that seems to be the topic for discussion hovered around this one question as CAFTA agreement would open up additional access to U.S. markets. But Spruell was left in quandary as to the answer, but did lead him to think about the future.
The American Textile Manufacturers Institute opposes CAFTA and Spruell answered, “We don’t know exactly what we need to do. Some domestic mills are in favor of it and some are against it.”
The National Cotton Council just recently went on record in opposition to CAFTA and urged Congress to thoroughly review and significantly improve the agreement’s textile provisions.
The CAFTA, which President Bush signed on May 28, has farm and industry organizations lined up on opposite sides.
Spruell believes the Southern Cotton Growers’ position could reflect the one developed at the American Cotton Producers annual meeting in August. CAFTA will also figure prominently in discussions at Southern’s summer meeting in Washington, DC.
Doing a balancing actic Spruell said to protect the domestic industry, treaties needed to be negotiated so that they will not cost U.S. jobs or allow other countries to take over the U.S. textile industry.
“If we’re going to negotiate trade agreements that allow those things to happen — take U.S. jobs and take over our domestic textile industry and create a situation where our domestic manufacturers need to move — then we need, in my opinion, trade agreements with regions of the world that are closest to the U.S. production sector and with regions of the world where we can enhance our sales to that region,” Spruell said in a telephone interview.
“The next closest place for a trade agreement (in terms of geography) is Central America,” Spruell says. “It’s better to have an agreement with Central America, a place that uses our cotton … than it would be to have it cut and sewn in China and shipped to the U.S.”
On the positive feedback on the quality of American cotton he said, “We had people who are buying our raw cotton tell us more than once not to be concerned about Brazilian cotton or cotton from other countries because our quality is head and shoulders above the rest of the world.
“While they tell us that, we don’t want to be complacent about quality,” Spruell says.
He returned much more concerned about the domestic textile industry’s lack of understanding of the U.S. production sector than about whether there would be a market for U.S. cotton in Central America in the future.
“The domestic textile industry appeared to have little working knowledge about the production side of the cotton industry in the U.S.,” Spruell says. “They were interested in price and availability and quality. That helped us better understand why we have discounts in some years.” |
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