The following background paper has been prepared by the WTO Secretariat for the Committee on Agriculture Special Session – Sub-Committee on Cotton

The Ministerial Decision on Cotton of 7 December 2013 (document WT/MIN(13)/41 and WT/L/916) adopted by Ministers at the 9th WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali states, inter alia that:

“5. In this context, we therefore undertake to enhance transparency and monitoring in relation to the trade-related aspects of cotton. To this end, we agree to hold a dedicated discussion on a bi-annual basis in the context of the Committee on Agriculture in Special Session to examine relevant trade-related developments across the three pillars of Market Access, Domestic Support and Export Competition in relation to cotton.

6. The dedicated discussions shall be undertaken on the basis of factual information and data compiled by the WTO Secretariat from Members’ notifications, complemented, as appropriate, by relevant information provided by Members to the WTO Secretariat.

7. The dedicated discussions shall in particular consider all forms of export subsidies for cotton and all export measures with equivalent effect, domestic support for cotton and tariff measures and non-tariff measures applied to cotton exports from LDCs in markets of interest to them.”

As a result, four dedicated discussions on cotton were held in 2014 and 2015.

The Ministerial Decision on Cotton of 19 December 2015 (document WT/MIN(15)/46 and WT/L/981) adopted by Ministers at the 10th WTO Ministerial Conference in Nairobi states, inter alia that:

“14. We undertake to continue holding Dedicated Discussions on cotton on a bi-annual basis, as indicated in paragraphs 5, 6 and 7 of the Bali Ministerial Decision on Cotton (WT/MIN(13)/41 and WT/L/916), including in particular to examine relevant trade-related developments across the three pillars of Market Access, Domestic Support, and Export Competition in relation to cotton.

15. We undertake to regularly monitor the implementation by Members of paragraphs 2 to 4 during these Dedicated Discussions on cotton, based on relevant Members’ notifications to the WTO, complemented as necessary by Members’ replies to specific requests for information from the WTO Secretariat.”

The Nairobi Ministerial Decision on Cotton also states that:

“6. The Dedicated Discussions on cotton referred to in paragraph 14 of this Decision shall continue to address the following specific elements, based on factual information and data compiled by the WTO Secretariat from Members’ notifications, complemented, as appropriate, by relevant information provided by Members to the WTO Secretariat:

(a) identification and examination of market access barriers, including tariff and non-tariff barriers for the entry of cotton produced and exported by cotton-producing LDCs;

(b) reviews of market access improvements and of any market access measures undertaken by Members, including the identification of access barriers to cotton produced and exported by cotton-producing LDCs in markets of interest to them; and

(c) examination of possible additional measures for progressive and predictable improvements in market access, in particular the elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to cotton produced and exported by cotton-producing LDCs.”

The fifth dedicated discussion on cotton was held on 1st July 2016.

As requested by the Nairobi Ministerial Decision, and based on the approach resulting from the Bali Ministerial Decision, the WTO Secretariat has prepared, in advance of the sixth dedicated discussion on cotton, a revised compilation of factual information and data available from Members’ notifications and other submissions, on Market Access, Domestic Support and Export Competition in relation to cotton, received up to 18 October 2016.

Further to Members’ requests at the second dedicated discussion, this revised background paper also includes (i) Members’ responses to the questionnaire on cotton policy developments circulated on 13 September 2016; and (ii) relevant information on cotton markets and policies from Trade Policy Review reports circulated up to 18 October 2016, for the 32 Members identified in paragraphs 12 and 13 of this paper.

The paper is organized in three parts, namely:

• Export Subsidies;
• Domestic Support; and
• Market Access.

The factual information and data contained in this paper have been compiled from:

• Members’ schedules and notifications in the Market Access (MA), Domestic Support (DS) and Export Subsidies (ES) series under the Committee on Agriculture;

• Tariff data available in the WTO Integrated Database (IDB) and Consolidated Tariff Schedules Database (CTS); as well as

• Non-tariff measures available in the WTO Integrated Trade Intelligence Portal (I-TIP) Goods Database.

The specific sources of information for each of the areas covered are described under the relevant parts of the paper.

With regards to Export Subsidies and Domestic Support (Part one and two of the paper), factual information and data were collected for all WTO Members with relevant commitments or who have reported measures benefitting cotton in their relevant notifications.

With regards to Market Access (Part three of the paper), and based on previous practice, the list of markets of interest to LDCs was established by collecting market access data for WTO Members that are either: (i) classified as developed economies for the purpose of the WTO Secretariat note on the “Participation of Developing Economies in the Global Trading System”; (ii) amongst the top 20 cotton importing countries in quantity for the period 2010-2012; or (iii) amongst the top 20 cotton importing countries in quantity from LDCs for the period 2010-2012.

As a result, market access data are provided, in accordance with the Bali and Nairobi Ministerial Decisions on Cotton, for the following 32 Members: Australia; Bahrain, Kingdom of; Bangladesh; Brazil; Canada; China; Colombia; Egypt; the European Union; Hong Kong, China; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Japan; Kenya; Korea, Republic of; Malaysia; Mauritius; Mexico; Morocco; New Zealand; Norway; Pakistan; Peru; Russian Federation; South Africa; Switzerland; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; Turkey; the United States of America and Viet Nam.

Unless otherwise indicated, the term “cotton” in this paper refers to the products covered by the Harmonized System nomenclature (HS) headings 52.01, 52.02 and 52.03.