Coton africain et marché mondial : une distorsion peut en cacher une autre plus importante

African cotton has been under intensive debate during the recent two years. Through this specific commodity, African countries succeeded in invading the floor of the arena of international negotiations in Cancun. They appeared to be compulsory partners in finalizing the current Doha Round of the WTO. Certainly, these countries obtained a serious advantage which is insufficient to prevent the Doha Round to be finalized without really taking their Cotton Sectoral Initiative into account.By analyzing the actions Africa could undergo to better sell its cotton in the World market, we share here two ideas that might seem provocative. As a continuation of an idea we yet explored in 2002, we first emphasized the limited price impact expected from the reduction/suppression of cotton support. We then deal with the distortion of under-valuation hampering the sale of cotton from African countries, this other distortion which is little mentioned so far and against which no action is engaged. Restricting the focus on subsidies, over-estimation of the cost of support policies, flexibility in re-allocating support measures into the WTO "boxes", as well as the market power of oligopolistic trading companies are factors which can reduce the price increase expected from the reduction/suppression of support policies. Ideas of actions to undergo in order to fight the negative impacts of these factors are proposed.While international negotiations deal with generic commodities, like cotton, real transactions refer to differentiated products for which distinct prices are attributed. This is the area of daily business escaping from trade regulation at the international level. The energy spent to defend cotton as a generic commodity has no effect on the valuation of differentiated products under transaction every day while price differentials could be large.Notwithstanding objective indications on its commendable quality level, the African cotton does not benefit from any market premium. This is a kind of distortion which should be fought. This battle is distinct from the one in the arena of international negotiations. It could only be successful through a clear understanding of the rules in trading cotton. It requires that all factors impacting on the perception of the cotton quality are taken into account. Success could result from active policy to promote cotton quality and to actually defend it at every stage of the cotton chain. In short, this new battle should take place on the African ground, at national and regional levels, through the establishment of an alliance between all of the cotton stakeholders and the set up of an efficient regional coordination to counter-balance the powers of international operators.