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COTTON LEADER
Information for U.S. cotton leaders about Cotton Incorporated from the Cotton Board
APRIL 2013
Your Direct Link To The Cotton Research & Promotion Program
Brad Robb, Vice President, Communications - 901-683-2500
Cotton Board Regional Communication Managers
Monty Bain (Southeast) - 334-569-2687
Bobby Skeen (Mid-South) - 318-372-0727
Bob Stanley (Southwest) - 806-438-4802
Brent Murphree (Western) - 602-810-1171
Hayden panettiere, From ABC’s Hit Show “Nashville”, stars in cotton commercial
Cotton Incorporated recently announced actress and singer Hayden Panettiere as the newest face and voice
to promote cotton in the latest “The Fabric of Our Lives®” television advertising campaign. The new commercials began airing as thirty and fifteen-second spots on television and select Internet outlets on April 15,
2013; and will be supported by digital assets linking consumers to a wide range of cotton fashion at a range
of price points. “For this commercial we wanted a celebrity with an all-American, girl-next-door quality,”
says Ric Hendee, Senior Vice President of Consumer Marketing for Cotton Incorporated. “Hayden had the
look and the country cross-over sound we wanted.” The criteria was strategic, building on the celebration
of the American style theme of the second Cotton’s 24 Hour Runway Show in South Beach, Miami this past
March. “The commercial celebrates American style and American originals like country music, cotton denim,
and, of course, U.S. cotton growers who are the number one exporters of cotton to the global textile industry,” adds Hendee. Supporting the commercials are a series of related digital assets on the campaign Web site,
www.thefabricofourlives.com. There, visitors can explore Hayden’s closet to learn more about her individual
style, and to link directly to online retailers with comparable apparel. “The campaign gets refreshed each year
with new talent and new supporting assets that are designed to remind consumers cotton is the fabric of our
lives,” concludes Hendee.
ARNOLD PALMER GOLF SHIRTS SHOWCASE COTTON TECHNOLOGY
Cotton Incorporated’s TransDRY™ apparel finishing technology has been adopted by Cotton Council
International (CCI) COTTON USA Mark licensee Arnold Palmer for their line of cotton-rich pique golf shirts.
“Arnold Palmer launched this new product at 100 retail stores across Korea,” explains Kevin Latner, Executive
Director of CCI. Golf shirts have traditionally been cotton-rich but the lion’s share of them are today being
manufactured using man-made fibers. “This promotion is specifically designed to expose consumers to new
cotton performance apparel finishing technologies and hopefully regain some of that market share to cotton,”
concludes Latner. The promotion started this spring.
COTTON INCORPORATED “FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM” UPDATE
Since 2002, The Agricultural and Environmental Research Division of Cotton Incorporated has maintained
a very unique and successful “Cotton Incorporated Fellowship” (CIF) Program. The goal of the Program is
to attract and train the next generation of cotton breeders, entomologists, agronomists and agricultural engineers. To date, over 30 doctoral and post doctoral applicants have participated in the CIF Program. Evaluating
the success of the Program and its participants can be done in a myriad of ways but getting published in the
most prestigious science publication in the world, Nature, is an accomplishment few scientists attain. Cotton
Incorporated Fellowship participant Corrinne Grover (Iowa State University) achieved that goal this past
December. “This is a seminal moment for the cotton research community because this is the first time a cottoncentric research paper has been published in Nature in over 50 years,” explains Dr. Don Jones, Director of
Agricultural & Environmental Research for Cotton Incorporated. Another current CIF at Iowa State University
is Dr. Rick Masonbrink. Dr. Masonbrink is an up-and-coming cytogeneticist. “Cytogeneticists, who deal
with the study of the structure and function of cells, especially chromosomes, are underrepresented in cot-
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Strengthening the Fiber of Our Industry
C O T T O N
B O A R D
TWO NEW “FOCUS ON COTTON” VIDEOS LAUNCHED
Cotton Incorporated and the Plant Management Network have produced two new webcasts for their “Focus
on Cotton” resource that can be found at www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/foco. The two new webcasts are
Bacterial Blight of Cotton During 2011 and 2012: Field Trash or Seed and Proper Handling of Round Cotton
Modules - From Field to Gin. Mississippi State’s Associate Professor and Extension Agent, Dr. Tom Allen, provides information on symptoms of bacterial blight as well as the mechanisms that allow the disease to occur, thrive
and spread in cotton. Dr. Allen also covers management options to help control bacterial blight, including cotton
varieties and tillage options, while also touching on new research to provide producers with a valuable method
to screen commercially-available cotton varieties for the presence of the bacterium in planting seed. Dr. Tommy
Valco, Cotton Technology Transfer Coordinator at the USDA Agricultural Research Service, provides insight to
help producers, custom harvesters and ginners ultimately reduce the chance of plastic contamination. Dr. Valco
reviews the proper methods of handling round modules not only at the gin but in the field as well. Both presentations are open access courtesy of Cotton Incorporated.
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ton,” explains Dr. Jones. Dr. Masonbrink recently had a research proposal selected by the National Science
Foundation (NSF) for additional financial support for his work. The NSF is highly selective and only funds 10
percent of post-doc proposals.
Economic update
After rising in the first half of March, global cotton prices declined in recent weeks. The May New York futures
contract fell from values around 92 cents/lb to those near 86 cents/lb. The A Index retreated from levels approaching 100 cents/lb to 92 cents/lb. Chinese prices, represented by the CC Index (grade 328), moved marginally higher
and reached 19,380 RMB/ton in the most recent data (142 cents/lb at current exchange rates). Officials from the
National Development and Reform Committee (NRDC), the agency responsible for administering China’s reserve
program, confirmed that reserve purchases will continue without limit in the coming crop year. The purchase price
in 2013/14 will be the same as in 2012/13 (20,400 RMB/ton, or about 150 cents/lb). Continued buying and stockpiling of the Chinese crop could support Chinese import demand. This month’s USDA report featured a 1.5 million
bale increase in the Chinese import figure. With Chinese production and consumption estimates unchanged, these
additional imports are expected to result in China holding 1.5 million bales of additional ending stocks. Export
projections for India (1.5 million bales), the U.S. (+250,000), and Australia (+200,000) all increased. China is forecast
to hold 55.3% of global stocks at the end of the current 2012/13 crop year. Following China’s announcement that
unlimited purchases are to occur again in 2013/14, stocks should concentrate further in China in the coming crop
year, with the implication that Chinese cotton policy will continue to be a major force determining the direction
of world cotton prices.
COTTON LEADER encourages the use of all or portions of this material. Proper attribution is greatly appreciated.
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