#Cotton Clubs Together
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WHAT'S NewS Issue 4 April 1997
The World Cotton Conference in San Francisco last month was of great
importance to the world 'cotton complex' or the chain of complex relationships
that comprise the cotton industry. Rl welcomed 240 representatives of some
225 companies to a three day conference in the historie Fairmont Hotel.These
ranged from cotton growers from places as different as China and Australia to
large buyers like Levi Strauss and Fruit of the Loom.
From left to right:
Henk Visser,
Rabobank Neder
land; Micbel
Scholier, Cotton
International.
Conference participants proposed the
founding of a wordwide organization akin
to Cotton Inc., to promote cotton and
fight the world's polyester interests.
J. Nicholas Hahn, president and CEO of
Cotton Ine: 'After the closing session
Friday afternoon, a group of international
cotton people met with me and Henk
Visser to discuss the possibility of
establishing an international cotton
promotion programme, as I had
suggested during my remarks Friday
^^torning. We appreciated Mr. Visser's
personal support for this initiative and
hopefully something will evolve in the
months ahead.'
MOST COMPREHENSIVE MEETING
'Most of the people I talked to during the
Conference agreed that this may have
been the most comprehensive and
KATOEN CONFEREN
TIE DOORSLAAND
SUCCES
De door Rl georgani
seerde World Cotton Conference in San
Francisco vorige maand heeft grote indruk
gemaakt bij de beslissers in de katoen
industrie. Veel van de 240 gasten verklaar
den dat er nog nooit zo'n complete en
4^ informatieve conferentie is geweest op dit
gebied. Sommige deelnemers stelden voor
een internationale organisatie op te richten
om katoen te promoten.
professionally organized meeting of its
type that we had ever attended!' Hahn
continues in a note to our leading cotton
industry expert Adrian De Young (senior
vice president New York branch).
The independant trade magazine Cotton
Row Journal reported: '...This bank from
the Netherlands pulled off a 3 day
conference in San Francisco that included
anyone who is, those that were, and them
that want to be, the heavy hitters in
cotton.'
Even before 'heavy hitter' CEO of
Dunavant Enterprises Inc. William
Dunavant jr. had spoken a word of his
Friday morning speech, prices at the New
York Cotton Exchange were rising.
Traders said nobody wanted to be caught
short before Dunavant's speech. However,
Dunavant said he expected the market
share for cotton in the textile market to
decline from 45.6% to 45% around the
turn of the century, due to low polyester
prices.
WEIGHT OF KNOWLEDGE
The 22 top speakers shared their views on
sourcing of raw cotton, new technologies,
factors affecting cotton prices,
competitiveness, risk management and
demand, to name just a few subjects.
'Our guests were impressed by the sheer
weight of knowledge in our bank when it
comes to the cotton industry. The lectures
were extremely well attended and most
guests took the opportunity to extend
their business network,' said one of the
11
knowledge sharing
satisfied organizers, Roel van Veggel,
head of marketing Rl. According to Van
Veggel this strategie conference was a
good example of international
collaboration within our organization. It
was set up by our people in New York,
San Francisco, Australia and Utrecht.
Adrian De Young (New York), Dennis
Britt (San Francisco), Jo Ann Van Dyk
(San Francisco), Rod Cambell (Australia),
Arend Heijbroek (Utrecht, author of our
bank's authoritive report on the cotton
complex), Maarten van den Bergh
(Utrecht) and Roel van Veggel (Utrecht) all
played key roles in the making of this
Cotton Conference. During the busiest
organizing period Van den Bergh en Van
Veggel synchronized their working hours
to partially coincide with those in San
Francisco. Van den Bergh on our goals for
the conference: 'We wanted to create a
kind of platform for all kinds of
businesses in the cotton industry, and also
for our own experts all over the world.'
WATER PROBLEM
One of the most noted speakers of the
conference was Rabobank board member
Henk Visser. Looking to the future, he
remarked that the three biggest problems
facing world producers were: access to
water, dwindling water supplies and...
water.
Visser emphasized the necessity for better
management of cotton stocks.
'Developments in the world cotton
market, like the liberalisation of trade and
Just-in-Time trading, will eventually lead
to a reduction in world stock/demand
ratios. Because prices are affected most by
changes in stock, the influence of China
will increase, with annual price changes
becoming greater. Risk management
is absolutely crucial,' Visser said. 'Good
judgement of risks - prices, currencies,
companies and markets - is in our own
interest, as well as in the interest of our
clients. Any party - whether banker or
trader - that takes risks too easily is a
danger to the industry in the long run.'
Some Dutch key role players are Shirani van
Lenthe (left), Maarten van den Bergh, Roel
van Veggel and Wil van de Tuuk (right).
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