Ｕ．Ｓ． Ｃｏｔｔｏｎ Ｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｙ Ｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｉｎｇ Ｄｉａｌｏｇｕｅ ｏｎ Ｑｕａｌｉｔｙ ｗｉｔｈ Ｎｏ． １ Ｃｕｓｔｏｍｅｒ

MEMPHIS-A National Cotton Council delegationtraveling to Beijing on June 19-30 will make a number of visitswith key Chinese officials to: 1) provide updates on the U.S.cotton industry's efforts to improve its cotton quality and 2)ascertain its Chinese textile customers' needs.

The NCC quality team is being led by Vice ChairmanLarry McClendon， a Marianna， Arkansas producer/ginner.Other team members include Mike Alexander， a ColoradoCity， Texas producer; Dan Branton， a Leland， Mississippiproducer; Dale Grounds， a Richardson， Texas merchant; VanMurphy， a Quitman，Georgia ginner; andBill Norman， NCCTechnical Services staff.The team will be joinedfor portions of thetrip by Darryl Earnestand James Knowlton，USDA/AMS/CottonProgram; Mike watson，Cotton， Incorporated;and Leon Cui， USDA/ARS/SRRC.

McClendon said the U.S. cotton industry has renewedits commitment to produce high quality cotton， deliveringit in a timely manner and honoring contracts. The industryalso is continually striving to minimize bale damage and lintcontamination.

\"The volume of U.S. raw cotton exports to China hasincreased significantly， so we must follow through on thatcommitment to remain competitive in the Chinese market，\"McClendon said. \"Obviously， U.S. producers appreciate thevalue of having China as a customer. We also appreciate thisopportunity to discuss issues surrounding U.S. raw cottonquality and look forward to continuing discussions of mutualbenefit to our respective industries.\"

McClendon said U.S. efforts to provide quality fiber include:

Farming practices ranging from choosing the appropriate varieties to developing and executing harvestpreparation and procedures that preserve fiber quality coupledwith world-class ginning operations that preserve the quality ofthat harvested fiber.

Cotton merchandisers who utilize an efficientinfrastructure of U.S. banks， transportation and freightforwarding companies to provide just-in-time delivery-allowing textile manufacturers to quickly match fibercharacteristics with fashion Vends.

Industry committees of the National Cotton Councilworking together and with USDA to develop standards andspecifications addressing the processing， handling and logisticsof cotton-standards that are enforced by USDA and throughindustry contracts. For example， some 30 years ago， theindustry， through the Joint Cotton Industry Bale PackagingCommittee， agreed upon standardizing the bale size producedby all U.S. gins. Today， 100 percent of all cotton exportedby the United States meets the Universal Density bale sizestandard.

Annual investments of significant resources by theNCC in developing and revising standards and specificationspertaining to bale packaging methods and materials.

The use of a Permanent Bale Identification， commonlyreferred to as PBI， tagging system has greatly enhanced thevalue of U.S. cotton. Not only does this provide a standard wayof identifying U.S. cotton bales， but PBI allows for a bale'sindividual classing data to be linked with the bale electronically.The PBI system also has helped improve storage and handlingefficiencies， streamline mill receiving and inventory operations，and assist the industry in moving toward a true electronicinformation system of data processing.

Development of U.S. cotton industry cotton flowstandards to assure customers of reliable and timely deliveryof U.S. cotton. These standards are meant to ensure timelyshipment from warehouses to the end-users. Currently， theindustry is also examining the warehousing and logisticschain to further improve delivery of U.S. cotton to overseascustomers.

Understanding by the U.S. cotton industry that anyforeign material present in a cotton bale is unacceptable andmust be eliminated. Though international surveys of textilemills continue to identify U.S. cotton as one of the growths leastcontaminated by non-plant materials， the Joint Cotton IndustryBale Packaging Committee constantly monitors contaminationcomplaints lodged against U.S. cotton and works to insure thatproducers and ginners eliminate sources of field and ginningcontaminants and that bale packaging materials protect balesfrom contamination during storage， handling and shipment.

The NCC also works very closely with USDA to perfectcotton quality measurements.

\"Given the strategic relationship between U. S. and China，the U.S. cotton industry strongly supports the development ofmutually agreed upon calibration standards，\" McClendon said.\"To support this effort and China's transition to instrumentclassing， the U.S. industry has strongly encouraged USDA andothers to work closely with the China Fiber Inspection Bureauof the AQSIQ.\"

The team's visit is a follow-up to a high level U.S.cotton industry visit to China in October 2006. That cross-China trip was to familiarize the U.S. delegation with China's market demands and was part of the U.S.-China CottonLeadership Exchange Program established by the NCC andthe Chinese Cotton Association (CCA). The visit also followsthe November 2006 signing in Memphis of a \"Memorandumof Understanding\" between the NCC and CCA that promisedcooperation between the countries' cotton industries.