Title 7 › Chapter CHAPTER 100— - AGRICULTURAL MARKET TRANSITION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER III— - NONRECOURSE MARKETING ASSISTANCE LOANS AND LOAN DEFICIENCY PAYMENTS › § 7236
The Secretary must give marketing certificates or cash to U.S. cotton users and exporters, if they ask, for documented buys or export sales made right after a four-week run when a specific U.S. Middling (M) 13/32-inch cotton price, delivered CIF Northern Europe, is more than 1.25 cents per pound above the Northern Europe price and the world price (adjusted to U.S. quality) is not more than 134 percent of the upland cotton loan rate. The payment equals the price gap in the fourth week minus 1.25 cents, times the pounds sold. The Secretary will set rules for turning certificates into cash or into commodities owned by the Commodity Credit Corporation, allow certificate owners to pick preferred commodities and storage when possible, and let certificates be moved to others under rules the Secretary makes. The President must run import quota programs through July 31, 2003. One special quota kicks in when that same four-week price test (sometimes adjusted for issued certificates) is met; it equals one week’s mill consumption based on the last three months, covers cotton bought within 90 days and entered within 180 days, and in a marketing year cannot total more than five weeks’ consumption. A separate limited global quota starts if a base cotton price in key markets for a month tops 130 percent of its 36-month average; that quota equals 21 days’ consumption (or less if a recent quota was used), uses a 90-day entry period, and may not overlap other quota periods. Supply and demand are defined in the law for setting the limited global quota.
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Agriculture — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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Citation
7 U.S.C. § 7236
Title 7 — Agriculture
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73