Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1734
2007-10-05 04:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

COTTON TRADE, PROFITS (AND REFORMS?)

Tags:  ECON ICAC EINV ETRD ELAB ZK UZ 
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VZCZCXRO7458
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #1734/01 2780418
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 050418Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8552
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3316
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9512
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 1049
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3932
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3795
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 1922
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 001734 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2017
TAGS: ECON ICAC EINV ETRD ELAB ZK UZ
SUBJECT: COTTON TRADE, PROFITS (AND REFORMS?)

REF: TASHKENT 1648

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY ECON OFF B. OLSEN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 001734

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/05/2017
TAGS: ECON ICAC EINV ETRD ELAB ZK UZ
SUBJECT: COTTON TRADE, PROFITS (AND REFORMS?)

REF: TASHKENT 1648

Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY ECON OFF B. OLSEN FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: The 2007 Third International Cotton and
Textile Conference attracted over 250 companies, the majority
Asian. Embassy staff attended. Uzbekistan expects to export
over one million tons of ginned cotton in 2007 for
approximately USD 1.55 billion. Over 70 percent of this
year's buyers are from Asia, demonstrating an economic shift
away from the traditional European buyers. Improved trade
routes are a factor in this shift. The Government of
Uzbekistan (GOU) continues its attempt to convert half of the
cotton sector to value-added industries. It partly relies on
foreign investment for this conversion, which trickles in
slowly due to the poor investment climate. Cotton industry
reforms would likely raise the standard of living of the
docile, poorly-educated and poorly paid rural labor force.
However, value-added industries, in the short term, would
deprive the powerful elite of a source of hard currency. We
do not foresee substantial cotton reforms occurring rapidly
in Uzbekistan. End summary.


2. (U) The Third International Cotton and Textile Conference
was held in Tashkent September 17-19. According to
organizers, 450 representatives from 250 companies and 34
countries, mostly from Southeast Asia, took part in the
event. The fair was organized by the Uzbek Ministry for
Foreign Economic Relations, Investment and Trade (MFERIT),
with support from the International Cotton Advisory
Committee, British Cotton Outlook Ltd., and the Uzbek Cotton
Association. In addition to the exhibition, participants
visited cotton farms, gins and textile mills.


3. (U) Official speakers spun a positive story about the 2007
cotton season. The International Cotton Advisory Committee
lauded Uzbekistan for its strong pricing policy. This year,
Uzbekistan is selling cotton at a market rate, regardless of

quantity purchased. The government reportedly priced cotton
so as not to undercut the international price. The majority
of Uzbek cotton is sold by three state-owned MFERIT companies
(Note: There are a handful of foreign businesses with
licenses to sell ginned cotton, including the Central Asia
Seed Company (reftel). End note.) From 2006, raw cotton
also has been traded on the Uzbek Commodity Exchange.


4. (U) Minister for Foreign Economic Relations Ganiev
commented that recent infrastructure improvements and the
establishment of trade routes eastward have reduced
transportation time from 30-32 days to 24-26 days. Cotton is
sent by rail to Alahsankou, Kazakhstan, then to northern
China and onward to Chinese ports, where it is shipped by
boat to Bangladesh, South Korea, India, and Singapore. The
improved trade routes have reduced the reliance on overland
routes via Turkmenistan to Iran's Bander-Abbas port.


5. (U) The majority of Uzbekistan's raw cotton, over 70
percent, is now purchased by Asian buyers. This is an
important shift as Western demand for ginned cotton is
rapidly decreasing. At the Cotton Conference, many Asian
buyers expressed the desire to buy cotton directly from
Uzbekistan, bypassing the traditional intermediaries. Thus
far, foreign buyers have purchased approximately 600,000 tons
of the one million tons of ginned cotton available in 2007.
The total revenue expected is around USD 1.55 billion,
approximately 16 percent of Uzbekistan's 2006 GDP.
Uzbekistan is among the world's top five cotton exporters and
top ten producers; 2007 is considered an average to above
average year for production.


6. (SBU) Converting the cotton sector from an overall
exporter of ginned cotton to a value-added cotton industry
has been a goal of the GOU for many years. The process is
moving slowly, as the GOU relies on foreign investors to
implement the conversion. The GOU aims to eventually process
50 percent and export 50 percent of all cotton grown in
Uzbekistan. Currently, 30 percent is processed. Post
estimates eighty spinning mills must be built for the goal to
be met.

Comment
--------------


7. (SBU) The Uzbek economy and government revenue are heavily

TASHKENT 00001734 002 OF 002


dependent on the agricultural sector, in particular cotton
exports. The majority of Uzbek cotton is hand-planted and
hand-picked by a poorly-paid and educated labor force.
Nearly half the Uzbek working population is engaged in
agriculture; during the cotton harvest students are taken out
of school to augment the labor force. Conversion to a
value-added cotton industry would improve the standard of
living in the agricultural sector.


8. (C) There are three main factors working against this
transition. Internationally, investors are wary of
Uzbekistan's poor investment climate and its lack of
transparency. Domestically, the government is unwilling to
finance new spinning mills from its own overflowing coffers.
This industry is less labor intensive than the current cotton
growing regime: at least now the farmers are all
under-employed instead of unemployed. The third factor is
that groups of the powerful elite, which control much of the
cotton exports, wish to retain this source of income that is
easily deposited into foreign bank accounts. Combined, these
factors result in a government reticent to end current labor
practices, including annual enlistment of students.
Uneducated farm laborers remain tied to an inefficient
labor-intensive industry, for better or worse, as employment
options in Uzbekistan are minimal.
NORLAND