Pakistan protests to WTO against U.S. and Indian cotton subsidies

According to a report by Pakistan’s “The News” on July 4, Pakistan lodged a protest with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the United States, India and other countries’ subsidizing of their own cotton industry. Tauqir Shah, Pakistan’s ambassador to the WTO, said that due to the large subsidies provided by the United States and India, the major cotton producing countries, to their own cotton industries, it has greatly affected the competitive environment of the world cotton market and put cotton farmers in Pakistan and other developing countries in trouble. According to data from the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC), global cotton industry subsidies reached US$10.4 billion in 2014/15, higher than US$6.5 billion in the previous year, and the scope of subsidies accounted for 76% of global cotton production.

Tauqir Shah said that in the past 20 years, the Pakistani government has carried out a large number of reforms in the cotton industry and abandoned intervention in pricing mechanisms and import and export. However, other WTO members have failed to fulfill their reform commitments, causing damage to Pakistan and other developing countries. Take Pakistan as an example. As a major cotton-producing country, Pakistan has to import 3 million bales of cotton because it cannot compete with subsidized cotton production areas on price. Pakistan’s cotton production has dropped by about 30%, and the cotton planting area has also been declining.

According to reports, cotton and related industries are very important to Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world after China, India and the United States, and has the third largest cotton processing capacity in Asia. Its industrial income accounts for about 57% of the national income, involving 1.5 million households, and it creates jobs accounting for 10% of the national industrial labor force. 40%. However, there are also limitations in the development of cotton and related industries in Pakistan. First, there is no scale effect. Most cotton farmers in Pakistan are small farmers, with an average size of 2.6 hectares, and 96% of cotton farms are less than 10 hectares. Second, they are seriously affected by natural disasters, and extreme Climate, floods, heavy rains, droughts, etc. pose great threats to cotton production in Pakistan and can easily cause cotton production to decrease. Pakistan protests to WTO against U.S. and Indian cotton subsidies

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