Dear Sirs,

ACME – The Association of Cotton Merchants Europe as an association aimed at protecting  the interests of the cotton sector,  is in complete agreement with the statements  already issued by  ICA (International Cotton Association) and AFCOT  (Ass. Francaise Cot.)  sharing great concern over the extremely challenging consequences of current pandemic on our supply chain.

The informations received ,  referring to several cases of  Retailers and Brand, members of the BCI,   unilaterally  suspending , freezing  payments  or worse, to cancelling  orders with their suppliers,  are going to have disruptive impact on our cotton community. 

This unilateral  approach is totally against our  good business practices .

ACME sees with raising concern the abandonment of the ethical principles on which these highly reputed  Retailers and Brands  were committed!

We undertsand that no one within the cotton sector will be exempted by the demand disruption caused by COVID-19

We strongly believe that it is  up to us, cotton associations and organizations, to ensure that our members meet the ethical requirements requested by the current situation.

Also, we would strongly support BCI’s initiative towards  its members to remind them of its principles.

ACME  is marking up the need for BCI to communicate to its members the measures  planned in this direction to enphasize  the importance of respect of trade rules governing our sector .

We encourage all involved in cotton supply chain to collaborate through this diffcult time!

Acme – the members