The just-released edition of “Cotton: Review of the World Situation” is all about the money: the most recent developments in the ongoing Sino-US trade dispute, the latest details on West Africa’s cotton lint trade, and the rollercoaster ride that commodity prices have been on since the pandemic.
The last few years have been anything but smooth for the cotton trade. Some of the problems are not all that uncommon, such as international trade disputes, while others are — happily — the kind that only come around once in a century. This issue of the Review features three major feature stories:
- “The Status and Impacts of the USA-China Trade Dispute on the Cotton Industry.” Yangxuan Liu, associate professor from the University of Georgia, provides an update on the ongoing dispute between the world’s largest exporter and the world’s largest importer.
- “The West African Lint Trade.” The ICAC’s Commodity Trade Analyst, Parkhi Vats, offers an overview of the cotton situation in West Africa, where some countries are more actively seeking to process their fiber in-country.
- “From Pandemic Recovery to Geopolitical Shocks: The Volatile Journey of Commodity Prices.” The final feature article is authored by the editor of the Review, Economist Lorena Ruiz, and tries to bring some order to the many chaotic events that have been buffeting the cotton industry over the last five years.
