Forgive me if this column appears to jump all over the place. I spent 20 hours yesterday (or was it Sunday?) in constant motion on planes, trains and automobiles. What’s more, I was traveling due west from Liverpool, England, the entire time, which meant that I didn’t see the sun go down for almost a full 24 hour stretch. It was literally the longest day I’ve ever had.
But the ends justified the means. I was in England to cover the International Cotton Association’s Annual Dinner Event, which is sort like the Beltwide Cotton Conferences for cotton traders and shippers from across the globe. It is the biggest meeting of their calendar year.
The trip itself was an experience. The toughest part was, undoubtedly, translating English-english to American-english. I actually had to ask a new friend who is originally from Sao Paolo, Brazil, to translate what a Liverpool-native was trying to tell me.
Imagine my relief then, to hear a sonorous Chicago accent addressing the entire convention crowd as a featured speaker last Friday morning. Allenberg Cotton Co. CEO Joe Nicosia delivered an insightful speech to a room full of cotton professionals from across the globe, focusing primarily on the American cotton industry.
Of all of the technical business insight Nicosia provided that day, I honed in on one thing in particular: Nicosia and company are predicting an increase in American cotton acreage next year of 1.4 million acres.
Now I’ve been somewhat of a groupie on the Joe Nicosia tour over the last five or six months. I’ve heard him address the American Cotton Shippers Association and the Southern Cotton Ginners Association, among others. Heard just about everything he’s had to say. And until Friday morning, I had never heard him say such bullish things about the coming growing year for the American industry. Believe me when I tell you that Nicosia’s projections carry some weight. His predictions rarely miss their target.
The reasoning he used was solid. Demand is slowly recovering. Alternate crop prices are returning to their normal (lower) levels. World stocks are diminishing.
I certainly don’t have to explain to you the significance another one and a half million acres would mean to the U.S. cotton industry. But as my jet lag wears off and I get used to the sweet sounds of the southern accent again, it’s nice to have some positive projections to write about for the first time in months.