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Commentator is PCCA's award-winning magazine for our farmer-members. It's published two to three times a year and contains a wide range of articles of interest to friends of Cotton.
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Lubbock, TX 79408-2827
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For access to PCCA's other systems please contact our helpdesk at 806-763-8011 or 800-333-8011.
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Buying Cotton
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Cash Market
Innovative Cash Marketing
From TELCOT to The Seam
One of PCCA's earliest innovations was TELCOT®, a marketing system developed in the mid-1970s to be an electronic extension of the way cotton producers traded their cotton for decades. TELCOT was a central place where buyers and sellers could meet to trade cotton via computers connected to PCCA's servers. TELCOT continued to grow and evolve to keep pace with advances in technology.
In 1989, PCCA introduced the Electronic Title System (ETS) to work hand-in- hand with TELCOT. ETS eliminated the need for paper warehouse receipts, improved efficiency and reduced costs incurred by gins and cotton buyers, and expedited shipments to textile mill customers.
In 2000, PCCA joined with others to form The Seam, a web-based electronic marketing system that provides our members with access to a larger number of cotton buyers, ensuring the most competitive price possible.
A number of popular marketing programs offered by The Seam today…Firm Offer, Automated Counter Offer, Loan Advance Program, and Equity Trading Options…had their start on TELCOT.
Through The Seam, PCCA members have access to electronic marketing for their crops. More important, The Seam can offer a greater number of cotton buyers to bid for the cotton offered for sale by PCCA members, ensuring the most competitive price possible.
Created in 2000, The Seam provides PCCA members with access to an online trading system to market their cotton and is another evolution of PCCA's original TELCOT® technology conceived and introduced in 1975.
Cash Marketing Options
Firm Offer is a popular option among producers and buyers. It allows buyers an opportunity to review all lots of cotton offered for sale at a firm price. Buyers can establish specific price, quality, warehouse/gin location, and crop year parameters, to display lots that meet that criteria. An offer remains outstanding until the lot is purchased or withdrawn by the producer.
The Automated Counter Offer program is a quick and secure method for buyers to indicate what they are willing to pay for a particular lot of cotton already in Firm Offer. Automated Counter Offer creates additional sales opportunities by opening the door for price negotiations between buyer and seller, resulting in a transaction that otherwise might not occur.
The Loan Advance Program is another innovative marketing option. PCCA members can tender their cotton to PCCA and receive an interim cash advance equal to the CCC loan price. When the market is right, members notify PCCA to offer the cotton in an attempt to obtain the best price available. Thus, the producer receives an immediate cash advance, and the cotton can be marketed at a later date.
The trading of cotton which PCCA places in the CCC loan program is facilitated by the Equity Trading Option. A buyer can purchase an option to redeem the cotton from the loan at a later date. The trading system handles all calculations to ensure the producer receives the correct amount, and all calculations such as storage and interest are correct when the option is exercised by the buyer.