DUNAVANT SAYS U.S. COTTON QUALITY STILL LAGS, BLAMES SEEDS

January 10, 2002

Reuters

ATLANTA, Georgia - William Dunavant Jr., the chief executive of top U.S.
cotton merchant Dunavant Enterprises, was cited as telling reporters at the
annual Beltwide Cotton conference here Thursday that American cotton quality
remains a problem, saying the seed produced by biotech companies is to
blame, adding, "No, quality has not improved. I still believe the seed
is a major, major problem and I think a lot of people agree with that."

Earlier Thursday, the chief executive of major mill Parkdale Inc. said U.S.
cotton quality has improved although problems linger in some areas.
Anderson Warlick, President and Chief Executive of Parkdale Inc. in
Gastonia, North Carolina, was quoted as telling Reuters that, "I think our
industry is very pleased at the quality (of U.S. cotton). But I don't think
you eliminate some of these problems."

The story says that disputes over seed quality marred the last Beltwide
meetings in California last year when farmers, milling firms and major
merchants on the one hand and seed companies on the other disagreed over the
quality of the genetically modified seeds produced by biotech firms.
Despite the quality issues plaguing U.S. cotton, Dunavant said this has not
hindered the pace of American cotton sales because cotton fiber which
contained some defects were selling at a discount.  He projected U.S. cotton
sales in 2001/02 to hit 9.8 million (480-lb) bales and to rise to 10 million
bales in 2002/03.