DUSHANBE, July 20, 2010, Asia-Plus – On Monday July 19, the U.S. Department of Labor released a final determination updating the EO 13126 list in accordance with the “Procedural Guidelines for the Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor.”
The final determination sets forth an updated list of products, by country of origin, which the Departments of Labor, State and Homeland Security, believe might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. The final determination contains a list of 21 countries and 29 products produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor.
Cotton produced in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, and China was included into the list of such products.
The US Department of Labor released an initial determination that proposed updating the E.O. 13126 list in September 2009.
In the meantime, according to the data from the Agency for Statistics under the President of Tajikistan, share of cotton fiber accounted for 11.9 percent of Tajikistan’s exports in January-June 2010. Over the report period, Tajikistan has exported 45,500 tons of cotton fiber for 66,400 U.S. dollars, which was 10,300 tons and 30 million US dollars (by cost parameter) more than in the same period last year.
In January-June 2010, the main trading partners of Tajikistan in regard to its cotton were: Russia – 28.4 percent; Turkey – 27.4 percent; Iran – 25.5 percent; Ukraine – 5.6 percent; Latvia – 3.9 percent; Moldova – 3.1 percent; Pakistan and Uzbekistan – 2.4 percent each; and Belarus – 1.5 percent.
Compared to January-June 2009, an average price of one ton of cotton fiber increased by US$427 and amounted to US$1,459.
Over the report period, Tajik cotton fiber exports to the United States made less than 0.5 percent of the overall volume of Tajik cotton fiber exports.
