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Bharatbook.com is proud to announce the new report “Cotton and the WTO: What has been Achieved?” (http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=13067). The issue of cotton subsidies in developed countries is one of the most contentious and challenging ones for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In the past the WTO has maintained that cotton should not be considered separately from other agricultural products, and the USA has supported this stance. However, the WTO stance was formally broken at the Doha Round ministerial conference in Hong Kong in December 2005, after a concerted two-and-a-half-year campaign by four West African cotton producing nations—Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, known collectively as the C-4 group. The C-4 group was aided in its campaign by a legal challenge launched by Brazil against US cotton support policies in 2002. Brazil’s challenge helped to raise the profile of the C-4 group’s campaign and to secure worldwide coverage and widespread sympathy for the plight of the C-4 countries. All agricultural export subsidies will be eliminated by 2013 and domestic subsidies gradually reduced. In the case of cotton, developed countries are to eliminate export subsidies in 2006. Also, they will grant duty-free and quota-free access to exports from least developed countries (LDCs), although no timetable for this has been agreed. Domestic subsidies aimed at encouraging cotton growing will be gradually eliminated, and the WTO will find a way of channelling development assistance in order to mitigate poverty and improve the competitiveness and efficiency of cotton growing in least developed countries. However, some of these ambitions are likely to be strongly opposed in developed countries. Achieving them could therefore prove challenging. Product Overview Six times a year, Textile Outlook International provides up to 200 pages of expert comment and analysis. A subscription provides an overview of the global fibre, textile and apparel industries. It is essential reading for senior executives in the fibre, textile and apparel industries – and for anyone who is not involved in the industry, but needs to quickly gain an understanding of the key issues. Reports in Textile Outlook International include: Country profiles – providing a comprehensive guide to the textile and clothing industries in a range of countries and regions. The reports include an economic and political profile together with a comprehensive overview of the main issues, plus an outlook for the future. Company profiles – giving you the opportunity to learn from strategies employed by others. Companies profiled recently include retailers, manufacturers, innovators and sourcing companies involved in textiles and apparel as well as smaller companies which illustrate the opportunities for firms which are interested in selected sourcing locations. Trends in world textile and apparel trade and production – taking into account current issues facing the industry – such as global fibre prices; competition from China and other low cost countries; the elimination of quotas and imposition of selective new ones; relocation of production operations; the impact of economic factors affecting trade; international trade agreements; trade promotion agreements (TPAs); and much more. Trends in EU and US imports of textiles and clothing – providing comprehensive statistical data and analysis of the top ten supplying countries to the EU and US markets. These reports are updated each year and contain value and volume data as well as average prices and analyses of trends for up to 15 product categories. Innovations, technological developments, business development opportunities, individual sector analysis and political implications which affect players in the global fibre, textile and apparel industries. Some of the topics which have been covered in recent reports include: new innovations in the textile and clothing industry, such as environmentally friendly textiles, plant based fibres, and developments in textile colorants; innovations in textile machinery; and overviews of the European swimwear, hosiery and lingerie markets. For more information, kindly visit: http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=13067
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