MEMPHIS, TN – In the 80s and 90s, one man could move the cotton market based simply on his outlook on the industry.
It was a common sight to see cell phones being held up in the air when Billy Dunavant, Jr. from Memphis-based Dunavant Enterprises stood up to speak.
As a regular at the National Cotton Council’s Beltwide Cotton Conference, Dunavant would provide his market outlook and in later years even some well-intentioned advice for an industry he knew would be trading globally.
Ironically, Dunavant was the first to sell a bale of U.S. cotton to China back in the early 70s, but a string of droughts in West Texas combined with the expense of meeting margin calls on $2 cotton in 2010 and 2011 led the merchandising mogul to exit the fiber business his family started in 1928.
Earlier this month, Dunavant, who retired in 2005, passed away (September 11, 2021) at the age of 88 leaving a legacy for the industry, and a pathway to the future through global trade opportunities.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)