Allenberg Cotton Co Allenberg Cotton buys third warehouse By MARY DANDO The Daily News Cotton is still king in Memphis as the city holds title as the largest cotton spot market in the world. Memphis also reigns as a world distribution center, which is one reason behind Allenberg Cotton Co.s recent purchase of a 374,043-square-foot warehouse at 2330 Frisco Ave., at a cost of $4 million. As exclusive agent for No Blues Inc., international real estate organization Binswanger/CBB negotiated the sale. Allenberg Cotton Co., which started in 1921, has its corporate headquarters in Cordova. It is one of the worlds leading international cotton companies with combined annual sales of cotton in excess of 750,000 metric tons. The company handles cotton of all world origins and merchandises it to domestic and textile mill customers. "We own lots of warehousing all over the cotton belt. We have found that warehousing in Memphis fits our particular need. We already have two here, so this is our third one. "It works out very well for us to warehouse in Memphis. We move cotton from various locations: Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and bring them into our warehouse and we distribute from here," said Tommy Malone, Allenberg Cotton Co. president. "Memphis still is the largest cotton spot market in the world. Spot is the term cotton traders use if you go and buy and sell cotton for prompt delivery we call that a spot transaction because it happens more or less on the spot. Memphis is still the largest marketplace in the world for cotton," he said. Although Allenberg Cotton maintains the name Allenberg, there hasnt been an Allenberg in the company since 1923. Louis Dreyfus Commodities has owned Allenberg Cotton Co. since 1981. The Cordova headquarters is located in a 140,000-square-foot office building. Allenberg owns two other warehouses in Memphis. "We own Memphis Compress and Warehouse Co., which we bought from the Mallory Group some five or six years ago. It was owned originally by the Mallory-Neely family and has two locations in Memphis," Malone said. As a member of the New York Cotton Exchange, and with offices in Beijing, Allenberg is a member of many international trade organizations, including the World Cotton Exporters Association, the American Cotton Exporters Association and the Liverpool Cotton Association. Allenberg Cotton Co. also is one of the founding partners of The Seam, the Memphis-based business-to-business online cotton marketing company, along with Dunavant Enterprises Inc. and Cargill Inc.s Hohenberg division. The Seam is one of the first online cotton marketplaces. It operates a platform allowing buyers and sellers to negotiate on the Web site, as well as initiate sales and complete transactions online.