Europe is - tilting towards a single market

摘要

Open borders and a single currency make Fritz Grobien somewhat optimistic about the future of cotton in Europe in the new millennium. Grobien, of Albrecht, Muller-Pearse, and president of the Bremer Baumwollborse, says however that textile companieswill look "a little bit different. They will have to be flexible; they will not be big, mass producers. They will be specialized producers, maybe very specialized, but in those markets they compete." Europe is tilting towards a single market as in the United States because of the single currency. In the past, he says, Germany with a very strong currency was at a disadvantage compared to spinners in Southern Europe. "Whenever they had problems in exporting they basically devalued the currency and for thenext couple of months nobody could sell yam except for the devaluating country," he says. "They dominated the market until inflation caught up with them. Now this kind of game is over."