Expert forecasts dramatic revival of cotton market
Thursday, 14/08/2008
A leading international cotton consultant says the market for the embattled industry will vastly improve in the future.
FC Stone Asia's managing director, Ed Jernigan, says industry has been kept to a limited price range because of the world wide over-supply of cotton.
Mr Jernigan says in the future the market could be demand-driven, with less cotton produced in the coming years because of the global food crisis and the emerging ethanol market.
"I see the cotton market being shaken to its core and being a dramatically different market," he says.
"The first thing is the end of the US cotton surplus. Cotton acreage in the US is declining.
"Cotton is battling for its acreage all around the world, it's cotton versus food and in every country, whether it's India, China or the US, cotton has to compete for acres against food crops."
