Organization and Performance of Cotton Sectors in Africa ... - infoDev

206 NOTES11. Important cotton sector reforms have taken place in Côte d’Ivoire in the past 10 years,but it is not part of the study sample.12. Although India’s area allocated to GM cotton (10 percent) is small compared withother countries, its share in worldwide GM cotton production is high because thetotal cotton area in India is high and because GM yields are well above mean yieldsin the country.13. Price variability of cotton has not been that different from other primary commodities.Pan and Valderrama (2005), for example, compared the price variability of 22primary commodities and concluded that during 2000–04, 17 commodities exhibitedmore price variability than cotton. Similarly, Gilbert (2006) ranked 21 commoditiesaccording to their volatility and found cotton to be somewhere in the middle.14. A study that estimated the price transmission elasticities from crude oil to 35 primarycommodities (including cotton and most food commodities) found that theaverage elasticity for food commodities was 0.18 and highly significant while thatfor cotton was 0.14 and marginally significant (Baffes 2007). Although this resultseems counterintuitive because cotton competes with human-made fibers, whosekey input is crude oil, food commodities are much bulkier than cotton while thecrude oil component in chemical fibers is small. Similarly, the study found lowtransmission elasticities for natural rubber (which competes with synthetic rubber)as well as some energy-intensive metals.15. For a discussion of how the U.S. dollar exchange rate affects dollar-commodityprices, see Radetzki (1985).16. The highly divergent results of these models reflect a number of factors. First, thereare differences in the level and structure of support. For example, some modelsincorporate China’s support to its cotton sector and model its removal; others donot. Second, there are differences in the underlying scenarios. Some models assumeliberalization in all commodity markets while others assume liberalization only inthe cotton sector. Third, the models use different base years and hence different levelsof subsidies. For example, support in the United States was three times as highin 1999 as in 1997.17. Note that these differentials are between short staple varieties and extra long staplepima varieties grown in different environments. As will be shown in chapter 7, theprice differentials observed within African upland cotton varieties, while stillimportant, are much smaller than this.18. Fiber length is the average length of the longest half of fibers. Grade is a commercialvalue that is based on a visual assessment of a combination of lint color, cleanliness,and preparation. Color is determined by the degree of reflectance (good) andyellowness (bad). Micronaire is a measure of fiber fineness and maturity.19. Neps are cotton fibers tangled into a knot.20. Gossypium barbadense.21. Cost and Freight Far East.22. Ring spun carded yarn is typically used for knitting and weaving, in a large rangeof coarse to fine counts.23. Combed yarns are stronger, more uniform, smoother and purer, and they havegreater shine than carded yarns.24. In Africa, these mother companies include Dunavant, Cargill, Plexus, DAGRIS,Reinhart, and others.25. Or the quotation for the African franc zone in Cotton Outlook.26. Though exceptions may exist: for example, supply is more atomized in Benin thanin Zambia.