International Institute for Cotton

At the end of the Second World War the cotton industry in the United States of America became increasingly worried about the previous markets that had existed for raw cotton before the war. The country had a stockpile of 11 million bales by the end of 1945 and prices had remained low, even with a smaller crop than anticipated in 1945 due to bad weather.

The other concerns upper-most in the minds of the industry was the increasing use of synthetic rayon and returning service personnel who they thought would go back to growing cotton, both factors effecting the price of cotton. The war in Europe and Japan had all but destroyed the capacity for producing cotton textiles and the worry was that it would be easier to erect mills producing synthetic yarns, thereby cutting off a market for American raw cotton.

The National Cotton Council (NCC) became the voice of the industry, the first meeting having took place in 1938. From 1945 the NCC developed a program to promote and improve of exporting cotton. The NCC was involved in all aspects of promoting cotton in the legislative, financial and commercial fields of promoting cotton.

The NCC felt the biggest threat came from synthetic fibres, and therefore took the lead in developing exports with the view that it had to consider the interests of the foreign markets and not just the interests of the cotton growers in America. At a meeting held in Buxton, England in 1952 executives of the leading textile manufacturers were invited to a conference, to discuss the growing capacity of the textile industry.

Because of the passing of Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act, Public Law 480 in 1954 authorising the export of the sale of surplus cotton in exchange for foreign, rather than US, currency. To facilitate the new law, the Cotton Council International (CCI) was created to carry out the agreement on behalf of the cotton industry. The NCC created the CCI in 1956 and almost immediately began to organise market research and sales promotions internationally. This helped to increase cotton consumption in the countries involved with the CCI.

Whilst the CCI was operating, several discussions had been held about creating a new international organisation. This was suggested as a means of attracting much needed money to help finance the operation of the International Institute for Cotton (IIC). Therefore in 1966 at the signing ceremony attended by the major producers of cotton and original members of the organisation, the United States, Mexico, Egypt, India and Spain it was agreed to collect one U.S. Dollar from producers for each bale of cotton exported to Europe or Japan.

This revenue helped to establish several offices around the world and the organisation was better placed to promote the consumption of cotton at a local level by, advertising, fashion shows, market research and development. The larger resources of the IIC meant it could compete against the large resources of the synthetic fibres industry.

It was the funding of the various projects by the member countries that ultimately led to the disbanding of the IIC. Member countries complained that several new countries who had developed their raw cotton production did not join the organisation however, they did benefit from the promotional work carried out by the IIC. Gradually disaffected member countries left which affected the level of funds available to the organisation to function. By 1995 the remaining members were finding it difficult to collect the agreed assessments and financial support from other organisations was not available. The International Institute for Cotton was disbanded in 1996.