International Cotton Advisory Committee

International Cotton Advisory Committee
Comité Consultatif International du Coton
Comité Consultivo Internacional del Algodón
Abbreviation	ICAC/CCIC/CCIA
Formation	September 1939
Type	International commodity body
Purpose	Trade and production
Headquarters	Washington, DC, United States of America
Location	1629 K Street NW, Suite 702, Washington, DC 20006 USA;
Region served	World cotton industry
Membership	29 members
Official language	English, French, Spanish, summaries in Arabic and Russian
Chair of the Standing Committee	Mr Ali Tahir
Main organ	Standing Committee (4-5 meetings per year), ICAC Secretariat
Budget	About US$2 million
Staff	Nine
Website	www.icac.org

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) is an association of governments of cotton producing, consuming and trading countries which acts as the international commodity body for cotton and cotton textiles.

Structure and history

Founded at the International Cotton Meeting in Washington, DC in 1939, the ICAC advocates for cotton producing nations, publishes studies and technical information on the cotton industry, and holds an annual Plenary Meeting of member states. While most of the world's cotton producing nations are members, two of the ten largest producers (The People's Republic of China and Turkmenistan) are not members of the ICAC. All of the top five cotton exporting nations are members.

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) along with private sector cotton organizations initiated the International Forum for Cotton Promotion (IFCP) in 2000. The IFCP serves as a forum and clearinghouse for the exchange of proven cotton promotion techniques. The IFCP facilitates domestically focused and domestically funded cotton promotion programs.^[1]