I showed a profit on cotton every year before any government payments. I do
everything I know how to keep my and my farmers costs down. And I am working
on ways of pushing costs lower by increasing productivity and decreasing the
opportunity for loss. Every one publishes $0.56 for the cost of production
for west Texas cotton and my figures are 20% below that.

What am I supposed to do when the price below the cost of production keep it
and let storage eat it up. If I want to hold the crop it is far cheaper to
sell it across the scales and buy it back in the commodity market and not
pay storage and have the use of the money that would be tied up in the crop.

The US goverment does not sell farm crops except the ones that the take in
loans. All but Cotton usually end up in forgin aid. Individual farmers sell
to private brokers and dealers that sell all over the world. Getting an
export license is easier than getting a business license in the EU. In a few
case farmers them selves sell intentionally. I know one country elevator
that sell alfalfa seed internationally.

The US is not the EU or Mexico they don't hold the reigns of foreign trade
except on some items. Our taxes are almost entirely based on income and
property tax and very little on duties and such. Interfering with trade is
bad for business.

Gordon

Gordon

"Torsten Brinch" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 04:48:51 -0500, "Gordon Couger"
wrote:

First Torsten roasts us for supporting the price and then for not
supporting
it enough. He can't have it both ways.

Huh? I am not roasting anyone. I am just telling you that a new study
has found that renegade USA is dumping agricultural commodities on
the world market in gross violation of WTO rules. All the while USA is
attacking Mexico for enacting anti-dumping tariffs on imports, in
compliance with WTO rules. Why would you feel roasted by an expose of
American double standards?

----------------------------

"The recently released report by the Institute for Agriculture and
Trade Policy says the dumping violates World Trade Organization rules
and hurts developing countries and U.S. producers.

"The dumping of commodities on international markets hurts farmers all
over the world, including U.S. farmers, by driv-ing down the
marketplace price," said institute president Mark Ritchie.
"There are international trade rules to address this problem. They
must be enforced."

In its study, the institute looked at the full cost of production in
the U.S. for wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton and rice between 1990 and
2001. The calculation included handling and transportation costs.
It then compared those costs with the price at which the commodities
were sold in international markets.

In all cases, the commodities were sold for substantially less than
the cost of production, which is one definition of export dumping.
The institute described some of the results as "shocking."

For wheat, the dumping margin averaged 29 percent, ranging from a low
of 18 percent in 1996 to a high of 44 percent in 2001.

That means that in 2001, U.S. wheat was sold for 44 percent less than
it cost to produce it.

Here's how the calculation was carried out, using 2001 as an example:
. The farmer's production costs were $5.31 US a bushel.
. The addition of 82 cents per bu. for handling and transportation and
10 cents in government support costs resulted in a production cost of
$6.24 a bu.
. The export price was $3.50 a bu.
. The difference between the production cost and the export price of
$2.74 a bu. ($6.24 less $3.50) represents 44 percent of the cost of
production.

The average dumping margin for soybeans has been more variable, but
averaged around 25 percent in the last few years. For corn, it has
been around 30 percent in recent years, for cotton well over 40
percent and for rice in the range of 20 percent.