A recent Cotton USA Special Trade Mission (STM) from Vietnam brought 11 textile mill executives
and officials from Vietnamese government and textile agencies to the United States to tour the
Cotton Belt and meet with US industry officials. Washington-based Cotton Council International
sponsored the tour, which included briefings by officials from US industry organizations, CCI and
the Memphis, Tenn.-based National Cotton Council; a seminar with the ICE Futures US, the US futures
trading arm of Atlanta-based IntercontinentalExchange® (ICE); and tours of a farm, gin, warehouse,
merchandising enterprise, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) classing office and Cotton
Incorporated’s Cary, N.C.-based world headquarters and research facilities.
Vietnamese companies represented by executives on the tour consume 260,000 bales of cotton, of
which US cotton accounts for more than half of total sales, and the country is considered to be a
significant growth market for cotton fiber sales, according to CCI. The tour immediately generated
sales of 2,540 metric tons of US cotton, valued at $6.7 million, to Vietnamese textile mills, with
additional orders anticipated. In the week following the STM, US Upland cotton sales to Vietnam
represented approximately half of total export sales, a significant increase over the 3.5-percent
average export sales since the beginning of the marketing year, reported the USDA’s Foreign
Agricultural Service in the June 26, 2008, US Export Sales Report.
“Our members have witnessed and gained full understanding of cotton production, ginning,
classification, merchandising, risk management, options, etc. in the US,” said Vu Duc Giang, vice
chairman, Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, and general manager, Vietnam Textile and Garment
Group. “We were also impressed by the efficient and effective structure, operation and cooperation
of all organizations within the cotton industry. All of these have contributed to the ‘No. 1
product’ status of the US cotton in global market.”
The Cotton USA STM was funded in part by the USDA’s Market Access Program.
July 22, 2008
