ICA Names New President and Directors
November 12, 2015 
Jean-Marc Derossis of BTG Pactual Commodities, UK, was elected president of the International Cotton Association (ICA) during the organization’s Annual General Meeting in San Francisco, CA.
Derossis will be joined on the leadership team by First Vice President Jurg Reinhart (Paul Reinhart AG, Switzerland) and Second Vice President Salman Ispahani (Pahartali Textiles).
Elected to the Board of Directors during the meeting were Bill Ballenden (Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse), Carl Peltzer (Cargill Cotton Ltd., UK), Raymond Faus (Omnicotton Inc., USA), Alex Hsu (Formosa Trading Co. Ltd., Taiwan), Alexandre Lins (Laferlins Ltda., Brazil), and Dr. Joon Kim (Spinners & Weavers Association of Korea).
Now comprising 24 members, the new board lineup continues to represent ICA’s global membership across all sectors of the supply chain and builds on its commitment to engage the entire global cotton community.
Following his election, Derossis thanked his ICA colleagues, then spoke about his stance on trading with defaulters.
“The Association has been taking a very benign and patient approach to those members that were found to have traded with defaulters,” he said. “But regretfully, it seems the benign approach isn’t working. On the contrary, the problem is getting worse for a simple reason: the cotton market has been very un-volatile in the past couple of years, which means that defaults are few and far between.
“Arbitrations inherited from the 2010/11 season are drawing to a close. Merchants find it more difficult to generate margins. So the temptation is great to cut corners.
“The ICA principles are not optional,” he continued. “They are permanent. Either one is prepared to abide by them at all times, or one shouldn’t be a member of the ICA at all.
“We cannot stop people buying from or selling to defaulters. But we can, and we will, stop members from doing so. Keeping up appearances in front of the cotton world whilst making a living out of dealing with defaulters behind the scenes is over. We just cannot afford to tolerate this sort of behavior anymore, because it ruins the credibility of the association.
“Our association still needs to make major progress in enforcing awards and ensuring that defaulting comes at a price that is too high to bear,” he added. “I will spend the next year putting all my energy to bring us closer to these goals.”
Established in 1841, the ICA is the world’s leading international cotton trade association and arbitral body. It has more than 550 members – both firms and individuals – representing all sectors of the cotton industry, including the world’s major cotton companies.
Source – International Cotton Association
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