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 1. home
 2. trade topics
 3. agriculture
 4. cotton

AGRICULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT: COTTON


COTTON

Cotton is discussed at the WTO under two complementary tracks: 1) trade aspects,
around the multilateral negotiations to address distorting subsidies and trade
barriers for cotton; and 2) development assistance provided to cotton production
and its value chain. These two tracks reflect the clear linkages and possible
synergies between cotton trade and development assistance in a number of
developing and least-developed countries (LDCs) Members, impacting millions of
people worldwide.

 * Agriculture
 * Agriculture Committee
 * Agriculture negotiations
 * Cotton [-]
   * Cotton days
   * World Cotton Day
   * Cotton by-products
 * Food security [+]
   * Agriculture negotiations
   * Public stockholding for food security purposes
   * Improving market information
   * Trade dialogues on food

SEE ALSO:

Sanitary and phytosanitary measures
i.e. food safety and animal-plant health

Standards and Trade Development Facility
Helping developing countries meet food and health standards

back to top
back to top


NEWS 


 * WTO, FIFA STRENGTHEN COTTON PARTNERSHIP, CALL FOR INCREASED INVESTMENT IN
   AFRICAN COTTON
   
   24 FEBRUARY 2024
   
   At a high-level event on 24 February marking the start of the 13th
   Ministerial Conference (MC13) in …


 * WTO MEMBERS ADDRESS TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT DIMENSION OF COTTON, POTENTIAL MC13
   OUTCOME
   
   7 NOVEMBER 2023
   
   The trade and development dimension of cotton was at the heart of a series of
   meetings among WTO mem…


 * DG OKONJO-IWEALA URGES WTO MEMBERS TO ENGAGE ON COTTON FOR POTENTIAL OUTCOME
   AT MC13
   
   4 OCTOBER 2023
   
   Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala called on members of the WTO on 4
   October to step up efforts to…

 1. 1
 2. 2
 3. 3

 * Prev
 * Next

More news on cotton 

The trade aspects of cotton are handled by the Committee on Agriculture in
Special Session (CoASS) including through dedicated discussions on trade in
cotton, chaired by the Chairperson of the CoASS.

The development assistance aspects of cotton are discussed in the meetings of
the “Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton” (DGCFMC).
Deputy Director-General Jean-Marie Paugam currently chairs these discussions on
behalf of the Director-General.

These discussions have been developed over the years as a response to a series
of proposals to address the sector tabled by four African countries — Benin,
Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, subsequently joined by Cote d'Ivoire — known as the
Cotton Four or C4.

Several specific initiatives described below have been carried out in this
context to achieve the various objectives agreed by the Membership.


DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE ASPECTS OF COTTON

Discussions on the development aspects of cotton take place bi-annually at the
“Director General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton - DGCFMC”.
The main purpose of these discussions is to track developments and exchange
information on development assistance provided to developing countries. This is
recorded through the “Evolving Table" on cotton development assistance.  These
meetings also provide opportunities for presentations and discussions on
relevant trade data, cotton production information and other relevant topics
applicable to cotton. The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)
regularly participates in the DGCFMC meetings and presents on the latest
information on the global cotton situation, including relevant updates on the
best cotton farming practices and market trends. Hence, the DGCFMC serves as a
unique international forum for interaction amongst multilateral agencies and
different stakeholders of the global cotton community.

The 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference and the 2015 Nairobi Decision on
Cotton further underscored the importance that Members attach to the development
assistance aspects of cotton, as well as infrastructure support programmes or
other assistance related to the cotton sector to tackle the priorities
identified by LDC cotton producers. These include multidimensional and
integrated programmes and projects at the regional and sub-regional level which
are submitted to development partners. For this purpose, in 2021 a list of
project requests submitted by developing countries seeking international
assistance for their cotton sector was introduced in the "Evolving Table".


COTTON PARTNERS' CONFERENCES

Two Cotton Partners' Conference have been held, at the request of Members, in
2019 and 2022. These events represented unique high-level platforms for
development cooperation partners to discuss their engagement for the sustainable
development of the cotton sector, particularly in "Cotton 4" (C-4) countries,
and in Least-Developed Countries (LDCs).

The latest Cotton Partners' Conference took place on the 27th of July 2022 and
was jointly organised by the Secretariats of the WTO, ITC, and UNCTAD to support
LDCs' efforts to create new partnerships and leverage resources and technical
expertise enabling the implementation of cotton projects at the national,
sub-regional and continental levels. The event focused on requests tabled by the
C-4 and other cotton producing developing countries who need assistance to build
a more resilient cotton sector in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The focus of the Conference was on cotton’s contribution to mitigating climate
change, reducing poverty, enhancing food security, and the creation of jobs in
value addition, especially for women and youth.


WORLD COTTON DAY

On 7 October 2019,  at the request of C-4 countries supported by other WTO
Members, the WTO together with the United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD), the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), and the
International Trade Centre (ITC) organized a World Cotton Day launch event at
the WTO's headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland. The event was attended by over 800
participants, including Ministers, high-level officials, heads of international
organizations, Geneva-based delegates and the global cotton community - national
growers associations, traders, inspection services providers, cotton promoters,
development assistance partners, scientists, scholars, retailers, brand
representatives, and the private sector.

In August 2021, the General Assembly of the United Nations recognized the unique
characteristics of cotton by proclaiming 7 October of each year World Cotton
Day. The objective of this global celebration is to draw attention to the
hundreds of millions of people around the world who earn their livelihoods
through the cotton value chain. The WTO is actively involved in annual events to
celebrate this important date, aimed to raise the cotton trade profile and
achieve further benefits to cotton producers and cotton trade around the globe.


BY-PRODUCTS FROM COTTON PRODUCTION AND TRANSFORMATION

Seeds, stalks, hulls, and linters, and the products that can be derived from
these parts of the cotton plant such as edible oil, cake, and fertilizers, are
commonly referred to as cotton by-products. They are used extensively in several
cotton-producing countries to obtain, for instance, protein-rich edible oil and
phosphorous-rich animal feed.

Cotton producing LDCs have highlighted that there are multiple supply-side and
trade constraints that hinder their ability to exploit the full value of cotton
by-products. Examples, include poor infrastructure and limited access to the
latest technologies, for instance for oil extraction.

In order to overcome these obstacles and create additional revenue streams from
the production, processing, and trade of cotton, the C-4 countries  has
requested the Secretariat of the WTO, UNCTAD, and ITC, to  develop a joint
initiative on cotton by-products development in LDCs.

back to top


DOCUMENTS: DEVELOPMENT ASPECTS

Search Documents Online
Documents on the Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton
use the code WT/CFMC/*
These links open a new window: allow a moment for the results to appear.

> quick help with downloading
> comprehensive help on Documents Online

 * All documents (Document code WT/CFMC/*)    > search
 * Meeting reports (Document code WT/CFMC/* and “Report of the” + “Round of the
   Director-General’s Consultative Framework Mechanism on Cotton”)   > search
 * Working documents including information from members (Document code
   WT/CFMC/W/*)   > search
 * Director-General’s periodic report (Document code WT/CFMC/DG/*)   > search
 * Evolving table (Document code WT/CFMC/6/*)   > search
 * Table on Domestic Cotton Sector Reform (Document code WT/CFMC/21/*)   >
   search
 * Documentation references and schedule of meetings (Document code
   WT/CFMC/W/24/*)   > search

You can perform more sophisticated searches from the Documents Online search
facility (opens in new window) by defining multiple search criteria such as
document symbol (i.e. code number), full text search or document date.


TRADE IN COTTON: NEGOTIATIONS AND DEDICATED DISCUSSIONS

Negotiations to reform trade in cotton take place in the Committee on
Agriculture in Special Session. In addition, dedicated discussions on cotton are
held twice a year for WTO members to share information on cotton trade.

OUTCOME OF NEGOTIATIONS

Under the December 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Cotton, developed
countries and developing countries in a position to do so have committed to
grant, to the extent provided for in their respective preferential trade
arrangements, duty-free and quota-free market access for exports of cotton and
cotton-related agricultural products from least-developed countries (LDCs).
Ministers also agreed that the decision to abolish agricultural export
subsidies, as contained in the Nairobi Decision on Export Competition, would be
implemented with regard to cotton immediately by developed countries and not
later than 1 January 2017 by developing countries. The Nairobi decision also
acknowledges the efforts made by some WTO members to reform their domestic
cotton policies but emphasizes that more efforts are needed.  The negotiations
on cotton have been continuing as part of the overall agriculture negotiations.

DEDICATED DISCUSSIONS ON COTTON

Dedicated discussions are an outcome of the December 2013 Bali Ministerial
Conference subsequently reconfirmed by the December 2015 Nairobi Ministerial
Decision on Cotton, where ministers agreed “to enhance transparency and
monitoring in relation to the trade-related aspects of cotton”. These
discussions are held twice a year, in the context of the Committee on
Agriculture in Special Session, back-to-back with the DGCFMC as part of a WTO
"cotton days".

Dedicated Discussions rely on factual information compiled by the WTO
Secretariat from notifications and other information provided by WTO members, as
well as other sources such as presentations by ICAC on cotton markets trends.
The discussions are aimed at informing  the negotiations on this topic.  


DOCUMENTS: TRADE NEGOTIATIONS AND DEDICATED DISCUSSIONS ON COTTON

Search Documents Online
Documents on the Cotton Sub-committee use the code TN/AG/SCC/*.
These links open a new window: allow a moment for the results to appear.

> quick help with downloading
> comprehensive help on Documents Online

 * All documents (Document code TN/AG/SCC/*)   > search
 * Meeting reports (Document code TN/AG/* or TN/AG/SCC/* and [“report by the
   chairman” or “report by the chairperson” or “report by the chair”])    >
   search
 * Secretariat reports on cotton trade (Document code TN/AG/GEN/34 and
   TN/AG/GEN/34/* or TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13 and TN/AG/SCC/GEN/13/*)    > search
 * Members’ submissions (included among documents with code TN/AG/GEN/* and or
   TN/AG/SCC/GEN/*)    > search

You can perform more sophisticated searches from the Documents Online search
facility (opens in new window) by defining multiple search criteria such as
document symbol (i.e. code number), full text search or document date.


BACKGROUND

Cotton has been discussed at the WTO since the Cotton Four’s 2003 Sectoral
Initiative on Cotton, and the 1 August 2004 General Council decision — sometimes
called the “July 2004 Package” — covering all subjects in the WTO negotiations.
The decision says that cotton will be addressed “ambitiously, expeditiously and
specifically” within the agriculture negotiations.

As a result, a Cotton Sub-Committee was set up under the auspices of the
Committee on Agriculture in Special Session on 19 November 2004 to hold specific
discussions on cotton in the context of the negotiations. Nowadays, discussions
on cotton in the agricultural negotiations mostly take place in meetings of the
Committee on Agriculture in Special Session.

The December 2005 Hong Kong Ministerial Declaration said that “all forms of
export subsidies for cotton will be eliminated by developed countries in 2006”;
“developed countries will give duty and quota free access for cotton exports
from least-developed countries (LDCs) from the commencement of the
implementation period”; and as a priority, that as an outcome of the
negotiations “trade distorting domestic subsidies for cotton production be
reduced more ambitiously” and more quickly “than under whatever general formula
is agreed”.

Cotton has been an important topic in the agriculture negotiations to remove
trade barriers and curb subsidies. The draft texts circulated by the chairperson
of the agriculture talks between 2006 and 2008 contained specific provisions on
cotton.

In the concluding statement of the December 2011 Ministerial Conference,
ministers confirmed their commitment to on-going dialogue and engagement to
address cotton “ambitiously, expeditiously and specifically”, within the
agriculture negotiations.

The December 2013 Bali Ministerial Decision on cotton reaffirmed previous
commitments, particularly from the 2004 General Council decision, the 2005 Hong
Kong Ministerial Declaration and the commitment of the 2011 Geneva WTO
Ministerial Conference. It undertook to enhance transparency and monitoring in
relation to the trade-related aspects of cotton, through bi-annual dedicated
discussions (see above).

The 2015 Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Cotton contains provisions on improving
market access for least-developed countries, reforming domestic support and
eliminating export subsidies. Both Bali and Nairobi Decisions underline the
importance of effective assistance to support the cotton sector in developing
countries (see above).


FIND OUT MORE

Introduction to the cotton initiative. 


DOCUMENTS

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on cotton and its value chains:the case of the
C-4 and other LDCs

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WORLD COTTON DAY 2023

 * Full details

 * Cotton Portal - Trade Intelligence for Cotton


EVENTS, WORKSHOPS AND TRAINING

 * 8 May 2024
   Cotton portal webinar
    * 7 November 2023
      Agriculture - Cotton portal webinar
       * Presentation
   
       * Video recording of the webinar

   FULL LIST 

COTTON MEETINGS

Includes meetings of dedicated discussions on Cotton



MEETINGS 2024

 * 7 May
 * 7 May

MEETINGS 2023

 * 16 May
 * 17 May
 * 7 November
 * 7 November



VIDEOS


Looking back at MC13 (26/03/2024)
Partenariat pour le coton (23/02/2024)
Made in Côte d’Ivoire (01/05/2023)
Cotton partners — Aid for Trade 2022 (27/07/2022)
WTO celebrates World Cotton Day (11/10/2021)

> More videos

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ABOUT WTO

The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between
nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly,
predictably and freely as possible. More 

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