It’s a Big World After All
August 20, 2009 We’re a little more than halfway through the year, and our staff here at Cotton International Magazine is already growing a little weary of our airport here in Memphis. Since we last published, we’ve caught up with you in Chicago for the American Cotton Shippers Association Annual Conference, and in Nanjing, China, for the China International Cotton Conference.
While the two events were held on opposite sides of the world, we discovered that they shared many of the same themes, challenges and goals. As one would expect, the global financial recession of the past year did not discriminate between east and west. The economic slowdown was foremost on everyone’s minds on both sides of the world.
While we’ll be traveling to other industry events on the other continents in the coming months, this edition of Cotton International is focused primarily on the Chinese and American industries. We were not surprised at how often Chinese issues came up at the American conference, or at how often the inverse of that statement was true.
One of the most intriguing speakers we heard over the course of the spring and early summer was Yuan Haiying, of Yuan Associates. Though his business is based in Beijing, Mr. Yuan was a keynote speaker in Chicago for the ACSA conference. As he detailed the challenges of the Chinese market, one couldn’t help but draw the parallels to the American cotton industry. Later at the same conference, outgoing ACSA President Joe Nicosia would spend a sizable portion of his closing speech detailing efforts to work with the Chinese government on the implementation of AQSIQ inspection procedures.
The more we listen throughout this year’s conferences, the more we are collectively reminded that the world is indeed flat.
We hope you’ll find our coverage of the ACSA Convention, as well as Nicosia’s speech insightful. CIM Editor Henry Gantz examines the American industry, which has an optimistic eye on 2010.
That same optimism can be found throughout our coverage of the CICC. That sense of hope is just one more common link between these two resourceful textile industries.
We’ll follow your lead where optimism is concerned. No matter how long our layovers, or how crowded our airport terminals may be, we’ll try to remember our resolve. And you can always find us at www.cotton247.com.
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
