Govt concerned about infected U.S. cotton

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government has expressed its concern with infected cotton fiber imported from Yuma and Imperial Valley in California, the United States, which supplies almost 45 percent of the 2.1 million bales used every year in the Indonesian textile industry, industry sources said here last week.

The sources said Minister of Trade and Industry Tunky Ariwibowo sent a letter last week to American Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman asking for his cooperation in resolving the problem before it affects Indonesian textile companies.

An Indonesian Textile Association executive said Tunky's intervention into the issue was prompted by repeated complaints from PT Argo Manunggal International, which reported that the cotton fiber it received from Calcot Ltd. in California between last October and December had been infected by cavitoma fungus.

"The complaint is supported by a laboratory test done by the Japan Spinners Inspecting Foundation in Osaka but Calcot Ltd. has not responded positively," an executive of the Argo Manunggal group confirmed on Friday.

He disclosed that Argo Manunggal first raised the issue in January after discovering that cotton fiber from the October- December shipments (20,545 bales) produced an excess of waste due to lower fiber strength and lower-quality yarns.

Records show that Argo Manunggal also brought up the issue with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Singapore office of Cotton Inc.-- the Southeast Asian representative of U.S. cotton suppliers -- the American Cotton Shippers Association and Cotton Council International in Washington.

However, Husein Aminuddin -- the Indonesian associate director of the Liverpool Cotton Association Ltd., the Britain-based arbitration body for cotton trade disputes -- rejected the complaint as groundless.

"A plant check done by a technician from the Singapore office of Cotton Inc. did not find any cavitoma fungus in the cotton consignment from Calcot Ltd.," added Aminuddin, who is also the chairman of the Sekbertal Spinners Association.

Moreover, Aminuddin contended, no other importers, except Argo Manunggal, had complained of cavitoma infection.

"They should have brought the commercial dispute with Calcot Ltd. to the Liverpool Cotton Association Ltd. of which I am an associate director," Aminuddin added.

Argo Manunggal, however, argued in its complaint that it would resolve the dispute through one of the arbitration bodies for cotton trade disputes.

"However, since the issue is related to disease infection the problem should be brought to the attention of the Indonesian and American governments," the Argo Manunggal executive argued.

Different interpretations of the cavitoma fungus seem partly responsible for the dragging negotiations between Argo Manunggal and Calcot Ltd.

Calcot executive John Burch, who visited the Argo Manunggal mills in Bekasi and Tangerang in March, said that the infected cotton fiber was a severe problem.

The American Cotton Shippers Association also acknowledged that Arizona has occasional problems with cavitoma fungus, which is difficult to detect.

Even Cotton Inc. indirectly admitted to the problem in January, when it sent detailed technical directives to Argo Manunggal on how to handle and process cavitoma-infected cotton fiber.

Calcot executives acknowledged that the cotton fiber it shipped in the last quarter of 1995 was infected with cavitoma infection. They made the admission during their mid- March negotiations with Argo Manunggal in Bakersfield, California, which were also attended by Indonesian Agricultural Attache P. Natigor Siagian from Washington.

However, Rick Yoshimitsu of the USDA's export certification department responded to Argo Manunggal's complaint by saying that cavitoma is a condition and not a disease organism. Therefore, he said, it is a quality issue and not phytosanitary one. (vin)