24,590 research outputs found
Valuing Transgenic Cotton Technologies Using a Risk/Return Framework
No full textStochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) is used to rank transgenic cotton technology groups and place an upper and lower bound on their value. Yield and production data from replicated plot experiments are used to build cumulative distribution functions of returns for nontransgenic, Roundup Ready, Bollgard, and stacked gene cotton cultivars. Analysis of Arkansas data indicated that the stacked gene and Roundup Ready technologies would be preferred by a large number of risk neutral and risk averse producers as long as the costs of the technology and seed are below the lower bounds calculated in this manuscript.cotton, financial risk, market value, SERF, transgenic, Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, Q12, Q16,
The use of New York cotton futures contracts to hedge cotton price risk in developing countries
No full textCotton exports account for a significant share of commodity exports for some developing countries, especially in West Africa and Central Asia. In these countries, dependency on cotton for export revenues has increased in the past 20 years. These countries therefore have a high exposure to cotton price volatility. Cotton-producing developing countries and economies in transition make little use of hedging mechanisms to reduce risk from the volatility of cotton export revenues. Countries in Francophone West Africa use forward sales to hedge but only for a small share of the crop. These countries could use cotton futures and options contracts to hedge against short- to medium-term price volatility, making cotton export revenues more predictable. Cotton futures and options contracts could also make cotton-related commercial transactions more flexible. (Futures could be sold when there are no buyers in the physical market, for example.) In West Africa, futures and options could complement the existing system of forward sales. The authors examine the feasibility of using New York cotton futures and options contracts as hedging instruments. They base their analysis on a portfolio selection problem in which the hedger selects the optimal proportions of unhedged and hedged output to minimize risk. The results suggest that despite the existence of relatively high basis risk (that is, a relatively low correlation between spot and future prices), hedging reduces cotton price volatility by 30 to 70 percent. Moreover, for all varieties of cotton examined, the hedge ratio (the percentage of exports hedged) was below one. Using a hedge ratio of one (naive hedge), at times, increases rather than decreases risk. The results also show that hedging, while reducing risk, also reduces expected returns. Attitudes toward risk that is, the degree of risk aversion - determine how much of this risk-return tradeoff is acceptable. For a risk-averse agent, the main benefit of hedging lies in risk reduction rather than in the potential for increased returns.Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Non Bank Financial Institutions,Financial Intermediation,Insurance Law
Evaluation of Bt Cotton Hybrids 2012-13
No full textuploaded by Dr. M. SabeshThe technical programme for evaluation of the Bt cotton hybrids through ICAR trials during 2012-13 was formulated under the Chairmanship of the Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi for the events which have been approved for commercial cultivation by GEAC (Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India). The programme was discussed at the All India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project (AICCIP) Annual Group Meeting held at Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University, Hyderabad on 9th April, 2012. Accordingly, Bt cotton hybrids (BG II) entries belonging to private sector R & D firms were evaluated for their yield superiority and quality aspects in North, Central and South zones. NORTH ZONENot Availabl
Risk management prospects for Egyptian cotton
No full textThe authors examine risk management options for Egyptian cottons, the export prices for which are volatile. They use regression analysis to establish whether Egyptian cotton's prices can be effectively hedged by using existing futures contracts on the New York Cotton Exchange. They find no relationship between the movements in prices of Egyptian long and extra-long cottons and prices for the base quality of U.S. medium staple cotton traded on the New York futures market. (Probably because Egyptian cotton prices are government-determined, U.S. medium staple cotton prices are influenced by price support policies unrelated to the longer staple markets, and the fiber of the cottons analyzed have different physical characteristics.) So, the New York cotton futures market's No. 2 contract is not an appropriate mechanism for hedging the price risk facing Egyptian cotton under present procedures for determining prices - and probably not under market-determined prices. If the cotton market in Egypt is liberalized, cotton prices there may correlate more with prices elsewhere - especially for the longer staple cottons. The authors extend their regression analysis to the prices of other medium staple cottons - Australian, Central Asian, Mexican, Pakistani, and Turkish - to determine how they behave relative to U.S. medium staple cotton prices. None of these prices had short-term movements closely related to U.S. cotton prices, indicating mainly the influence of domestic policies on the U.S. market. Again, the New York futures No. 2 contract does not provide a satisfactory hedge for these cottons. The cotton futures contract recently introduced in New York (world cotton contract) - based on the Cotlook A Index - may prove useful for hedging the price risk for some cottons (especially Australian, Central Asian, and Pakistani) but apparently not Egyptian cotton. The authors recommend (together with privatizing the industry) establishing a domestic spot market to give transparency to the price-forming process. When the spot market is functioning well, establishing a foward market could provide a hedging instrument for Egyptian cotton.Markets and Market Access,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Access to Markets
Challenges facing the cotton sector worldwide and in Africa
No full textTo prepare the roadmap for its ten-year research on the cotton sector, CIRAD worked with a number of stakeholders to identify the main challenges facing the sector in the coming years, both globally and in Africa in particular. This document presents the 35 challenges identified, grouped into 7 macro-challenges. Several of these challenges are global in scope, and international collaboration is needed to address them
Cotton : Market setting, trade policies, and issues
No full textThe value of world cotton production in 2000-01 has been estimated at about 35 billion in 1996-97 when cotton prices were 50 percent higher. Although cotton's share in world merchandise trade is insignificant (about 0.12 percent), it is very important to a number of developing countries. Cotton accounts for approximately 40 percent of total merchandise export earnings in Benin and Burkina Faso, and 30 percent in Chad, Mali, and Uzbekistan. Its contribution to GDP in these and other developing countries is substantial, ranging between 5 and 10 percent. Cotton supports the livelihoods of millions in developing countries (at least 10 million in West and Central Africa) where it is a typical, and often dominant, smallholder cash crop. The cotton market also has been subject to considerable market intervention-subsidization in the European Union and the United States, and taxation in Africa and Central Asia. During the past three seasons, annual direct support averaged $4.5 billion. The author reviews the market setting and policy issues and gives recommendations on how industrial and developing cotton-producing countries can improve the policy environment.Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Agricultural Research,Economic Theory&Research,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Textiles, Apparel&Leather Industry,Agricultural Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Livestock&Animal Husbandry
Cotton-textile-apparel sectors of India:
No full text"Cotton, textiles, and apparel are critical agricultural and industrial sectors in India. This study provides descriptions of these sectors and examines the key developments emerging domestically and internationally that affect the challenges and opportunities the sectors face. More than four million farm households produce cotton in India, and about one-quarter of output is produced by marginal and small farms. Although production has expanded—most recently with the introduction of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton—domestic prices dropped sharply in the late 1990s, in parallel to world cotton prices. Using partial equilibrium simulations, we estimate that a price movement of the magnitude that occurred has a significant effect on levels of poverty among cotton-producing households. The fiber-to-fabric production chain, from cotton processing through apparel, employs more than 12 million workers in India and provides 16 percent of export earnings. Except for the spinning industry, these sectors are dominated by small, fragmented, and nonintegrated units, which adversely affect their competitiveness. Recent policy reforms have induced some technological improvements. In terms of future prospects for the Indian processing, textile, and apparel industries, our analysis emphasizes three dimensions of reform—the need for further investments in human resource development to improve industry productivity and reduce poverty among workers in these sectors, the emergence of modern domestic retail marketing chains, and the potentially vibrant prospects for the industry that arise from a growing domestic fabric demand and new opportunities in world markets if appropriate policies and investments are undertaken." from authors' abstractCotton, textiles, Apparel, Rural poverty, subsidies, Industry policy, World markets,
Evaluation of Bt Cotton Hybrids Central Zone 2008-09
No full textuploaded by Dr. M. SabeshThe All India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project (AICCIP) of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research was assigned the task of evaluating sponsoring R&D firms’ Bt Cotton hybrids comprising four events which have been approved for commercial cultivation by GEAC (Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt. of India) in the Central Zone during the crop season of 2008‐09. The technical programme for the conduct of ICAR trials was formulated during All India Coordinated Cotton Improvement Project (AICCIP) Group Meeting held at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana on 10th April, 2008. As the number of entries was large from the sponsoring private R&D firms, it was decided to have two sets of first year Intra Hirsutum Hybrid Evaluation trials viz., Trial “Set A” and Trial “Set B” for both irrigated as well as rainfed conditions separately and an inter‐specific ( G.hirsutum x G.barbadense ) hybrid trial under irrigated conditions. The same Bt, non‐Bt and local check hybrids were maintained in both the sets of trials to maintain parity in evaluation.Not Availabl
Understanding the impact of Cotton Subsidies on developing countries
No full textModels developed to investigate the impact of cotton subsidies have found that US support, by virtue of its absolute magnitude, is particularly damaging and responsible for most of the reduction in cotton-earning potential in developing countries. This has been used as an argument for reducing or postponing cuts in subsidies to European farmers, as these appear to have less impact on developing countries. Our results, through a careful examination of the nature of the cotton market, agree but suggest that under certain assumptions subsidies by smaller subsidisers (such as the EU) may be disproportionately harmful to some suppliers, notably to West and Central African countries. This is especially damaging to them since they have the potential to increase supply.Cotton, Subsidies, Development
Is Investment in Agricultural Research a Good Substitute for Price Support in U.S. Cotton?
No full textThis article examines the effects of R&D on cotton yield and relationship between R&D and commodity support programs. The results indicate that yield elasticities with respect to cotton R&D is around 0.2-0.5 based on different regions. It further indicates that R&D increases government expenditures when both commodity programs and R&D funding exist. However, if the future WTO Doha negotiations rules out the possibility of price support programs, increasing R&D funding may provide one of the solutions for farmers to recover their income with 5-6 years lag.cotton, R&D, commodity support programs, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,
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