Allen A. Terhaar
Executive Director
Cotton Council International
Allen A. Terhaar is executive director of Cotton Council International (CCI) and a vice president of the National Cotton Council of America. Headquartered in Washington, DC, CCI is the export promotion arm of the National Cotton Council. With operations in more than fifty countries, CCI is dedicated to increasing exports of U.S. cotton and cotton products.
Prior to joining CCI, Mr Terhaar served as the executive director and director of planning and trade policy for the U.S. Feed Grains Council. Earlier on, he was an Economist with USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and with the Economic Research Service in Washington, DC. He also served in the U.S. Peace Corps in South America from 1970-72.
The partnership between the Cotton Council International (CCI) and Japan Cotton Promotion Institute (JCPI) began in 1956.
Cotton Council International (CCI) has a long and significant history of partnership with the Japanese textile industry. CCI was founded in 1956, in part to assist in the export of U.S. cotton to the developing Japanese textile industry. The Japan Cotton Promotion Institute (JCPI) was founded the same year and the partnership between CCI and JCPI continues to this day.
Exports of U.S. cotton fiber to Japan totaled 148,203 bales in the 2008/2009 marketing year representing a value of $62 million USD. While the cotton spinning industry has largely relocated offshore, Japan maintains its significance through its large retail market. Japan represents the second largest economy in the world, and is second in terms of GDP and personal consumption. This makes Japan extremely important as an end-user of U.S. cotton, sold as apparel and home furnishings at retail.
Retail sales in Japan for 2007 totaled over 1 billion USD with over 90 million dollars in sales for textiles. A high percentage of Japanese cotton textile products today are imported and CCI is working globally to assist Japanese retailers and trading companies in finding sourcing options for 100% cotton products with a majority of US cotton. CCI launched the COTTON USA Mark program in 1989 to distinguish high-quality Japanese textile products at retail using premium U.S. cotton. Today, the COTTON USA Mark is labeled on 18 million products on 172 different brands in Japan.
Japan remains an important market for U.S. cotton both at retail and in direct cotton fiber sales. Through the continued partnership with the Japanese domestic textile industry and increasing regional and global emphasis with Japanese companies throughout the supply chain, CCI and the U.S. cotton industry anticipate another fifty years of mutual benefit.
