Friday, May 13
10:30 AM Keynote Presentation
Eskine Bowles, Co-Chair, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
11:00 AM Market Forum
David Hightower, The Hightower Report
Christine Cochran, President, Commodity Markets Council
Matthew Shay, President and CEO, National Retail Federation
7:00 PM Black Tie Reception and Dinner, Four Seasons Hotel
The focus on the last day of the event will be on the broader U.S. economy and will be more commodity-specific than the other days, Lea says.
“Mr. Bowles will take a look at some of the broader budget issues, which is important because his Commission has suggested some severe cuts to Market Access Program (MAP) funding,” Lea says. “CCI and other organizations use that funding to promote cotton and other agricultural products overseas, so his proposals are very important. A lot of what makes U.S. cotton so competitive around the world is a direct result of what CCI does.”
In the Market Forum, Hightower, Cochran and Shay will discuss macroeconomic issues, the state of the commodities markets, and the health of the retail industry. “We’ve had apparel deflation for a long time and meanwhile, the costs of operating a retail story—rent, electricity, insurance—have all been going up,” Lea says. “And with the advent of e-commerce, things have changed so much for retailers, in a fairly short period of time. We need to know what kind of effect $2 cotton is going to have.”
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