Cotton price on the exchange

Current cotton price

The price of cotton is usually quoted in USd, which is one hundredth of a USD, i.e. 1 cent.

Price change

Historical prices

Cotton and its uses

Cotton is a strategic industrial raw material. It is plant-based and consists of fibres from the seeds of cotton plants. There are four main species. Around 90% of production comes from upland cotton, which originates from Central America and the Caribbean.

People have used this raw material for thousands of years. According to the oldest archaeological finds discovered so far, cotton was already being grown in ancient Egypt.

Cotton is undoubtedly used most extensively in the textile industry. It is used to make clothing, decorative household textiles and technical textiles.

Global cotton production

Global cotton production in the 2025/26 season is around 121.9 million bales, the highest level since the 2012/13 season. One bale is equivalent to approximately 218 kg. China produces the most cotton, at roughly 35.8 million bales, followed by India at approximately 23 to 24 million and Brazil, which achieved a record of around 19.5 million bales. Other major producers include the United States, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

Historical cotton price trends

The cotton price is normally quoted in US dollars (USD) per pound of the commodity, with one pound equivalent to approximately 0.453 kg in the metric system. The price is sometimes converted into US dollar cents, in which case the value is shown using the abbreviation “USd”. For example, 140 USd/lb means USD 1.4 per pound of cotton. We will also use this abbreviation below.

Cotton price data can be traced back to 1913. Its price movements can generally be described as cyclical. Historically, there have been several periods of sharp price increases.

Between 1913 and 1940, the price ranged from 4 to 35 USd, peaking in 1919 during a period of high inflation following the end of the First World War. From 1930, the price rose from 5 USd to 40 USd in 1950. From that year onwards, it remained broadly flat with minor fluctuations, reaching a local low around the turn of 1966 and 1967.

From the late 1960s to the early 1990s, the cotton price gradually increased. During this period, it generally rose and fell in cycles of approximately two to three years, within a range of 40 to 90 USd.

The rapid boom between 1992 and 1995 was followed by a gradual decline from the mid-1990s to approximately 30 USd in 2001. At the time, an economic crisis associated with the collapse of the dot-com bubble was under way, while overall interest in textile production weakened.

Cotton reached its highest price on record in 2011, when it exceeded 220 USd per pound. However, this level was not sustainable over the long term, and the price fell by around 70% within two years.

Another significant rise occurred in May 2022, when the price climbed to around 155 USd per pound, its highest level since 2011. This was followed by a sharp decline. In 2022 and 2023, the price returned to a range of roughly 75 to 85 USd, before reaching five-year lows of around 62 to 66 USd in 2025. In 2026, it recovered to a range of approximately 74 to 78 USd per pound.

When this article was updated in July 2026, the spot price of cotton on the ICE exchange under Contract No. 2 was around 74 USd per pound, while the active futures contract was trading at approximately 77.7 USd per pound.

Future cotton price outlook

Cotton is among the most actively traded commodities, although demand has fluctuated in recent years.

High supply has coincided with relatively weak consumption by spinning mills. Cotton also competes with synthetic fibres, which tend to be cheaper. This combination is keeping the price relatively low. In our view, the cotton price has little reason to rise sharply unless there is a significant crop failure or a recovery in demand for textiles.

Please note that this is not investment advice, but the personal opinion of the article’s author.

How to trade cotton

Cotton is primarily traded through contracts. For retail investors, these will usually be CFDs. In such cases, trades take place in an intangible, virtual form.

Cotton CFD contracts, or CFDs on any other commodity, can now be opened with many online brokers. This allows investors simply to speculate on whether the current price will rise or fall. Neither the investor nor the broker holds the commodity itself. This potential risk arising from the contract’s “virtual nature” must be taken into account.

The second type is futures contracts. However, these are intended primarily for professional investors trading on specialised exchanges such as the CME, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, in the United States.

Another way to invest in cotton is to buy shares in a company involved in the commodity. These are most often cotton producers and processors or fashion companies. Shares in companies such as Unifi, Inc. (UFI) or Culp, Inc. (CULP) can add variety to your portfolio. On the other hand, their share prices do not always reflect the actual exchange-traded price of cotton.

Some European Union countries also apply a minimum holding period, after which no income tax is payable when the shares are sold.

What affects the price of cotton

Demand for cotton comes primarily from large clothing companies. The commodity is also required for the production of industrial textiles, including by car manufacturers and furniture makers.

The cotton price is sensitive to crop size. If cotton plantations produce a large harvest, a substantial volume of cotton may suddenly enter the market. In this case, the commodity’s price will inevitably fall, although probably only temporarily. Conversely, a failed harvest in one of the key producing countries can quickly drive the price higher.