EUR/US$: 1.1662
Cotton Faces Tuesday Weakness
Barchart: Cotton futures traded lower Tuesday, pulling off session lows into the close, still down 27 to 46 points in most contracts. Crude oil fell $3.90, the dollar index eased $0.089. Weekly Crop Progress showed 81% of the crop setting bolls and 20% with bolls opening, with the good-to-excellent rating down 1 point to 37%; Texas ratings fell another 10 points on the Brugler500 while Georgia held steady. The Seam reported 689 bales sold at an average of 89 cents, and the Cotlook A Index was unchanged at 98.20 cents. December closed at 88.34 cents, down 49 points.
Source: Barchart
Calcot Market Comment – August 25, 2026
Calcot: Cotton futures closed lower across the board, the first losing session in eight, with December settling at 88.34 cents, down 49 points, exactly erasing Monday's gain. Still, the session wasn't a clear bearish win: December closed much closer to the day's high after a sharp 90-minute rally off the 87.05-cent low, though it came within 5 points of Monday's contract high without breaking it, leaving some analysts wary the market needs to build a base before pushing higher. Cash sales have slowed at the higher prices, with cheaper Brazilian and Australian cotton drawing some interest. Open interest rose for a 17th straight session to 374,961 contracts, the 6th-highest in cotton's history. China's state reserve completed its 27th consecutive sold-out auction, taking the cumulative total to roughly 952,952 bales. Outside markets were mildly supportive: crude oil extended its two-day decline to $4.70, the dollar index held near three-month lows, and grains rallied, led by corn's 1.6% gain as USDA cut the corn good-to-excellent rating to 57%.
Source: Calcot
Higher Production and Prices This Year for Cotton, But Problems Remain
Paratiritis tis Thrakis (Kostas Markendoudis): Stamatis Kouroudis, president of the Thrakika Ginneries, said this year's cotton season looks better than last year's on both production and price, though prices remain low and rising production costs keep squeezing growers. Farmers are broadly satisfied with the crop so far, but September remains the decisive month for final yields; some cash-strapped growers may have skimped on fertilizing and crop protection to cut costs, which could show up in lower yields at harvest. Prices have moved up from historic lows of around 35 cents/kg to about 50 cents/kg, still well below what growers consider satisfactory given today's costs, though a very rapid rise also raises fears it may not hold. On the positive side, the proposed new CAP would raise subsidies if Greek cotton area falls below 250,000 hectares (currently under 200,000), signaling EU support for the crop, while a cotton-industry crisis in Turkey is pushing it to import more, benefiting Greek growers since Turkey is the main destination for Greek cotton. Kouroudis warned that Greece's export share has been losing ground to Brazil and the US, and that improving fiber quality is now the key competitiveness issue, both against those rivals and against synthetic fibers.
Source: Paratiritis tis Thrakis
Australian Cotton Market Faces Firm Prices as Buyers Delay Purchasing
Textile Value Chain: Australian cotton cash values held firm through July (around A$605-615/bale) despite subdued export enquiry, with the 2026 crop about 76% ginned and 66% classed at generally strong quality. June exports reached 566,000 bales, led by China (53%), Vietnam (19%) and Malaysia (9%). A near-term opportunity is opening as India's temporary duty exemption on cotton imports runs through October 31, and Australian cotton needs to ship by early September to qualify; India's cotton balance is currently in deficit amid a weak monsoon. China, meanwhile, remains focused on its own reserve auctions, which have cleared 100% every session, keeping it largely out of the import market until reserve replenishment begins, possibly around President Xi's September 24 US visit. With growers about 90% sold and mill buying weakening above 80 cents/lb, the market is described as more about demand timing than a shortage of cotton, with the coming 4-8 weeks seen as key to bridging firm supply-side pricing and delayed buyer demand.
Source: Textile Value Chain
Bangladesh: Cotton Import Forecast Cut to 7.4 Million Bales for MY'27
BigMint: USDA cut its forecast for Bangladesh's 2026/27 cotton imports to 7.4 million bales, down from 7.6 million projected in June and July, citing weaker consumption, yarn-production disruptions and soft demand from the ready-made garment sector; MY26 imports are now estimated at 7.2 million bales, down from 8.05 million in MY25. Bangladesh's RMG exports fell 1.64% to $38.7 billion in FY26, with July shipments down a further 1.92% year-on-year. Vietnam is projected to overtake Bangladesh as the top cotton importer in MY27 at 8.2 million bales, while China, Pakistan and India are forecast at 7, 5 and 3 million bales respectively; Brazil has overtaken India as Bangladesh's largest single-country cotton supplier, with West Africa still the main source region. Domestic Bangladeshi cotton production remains marginal at about 153,000 bales, under 2% of consumption, while global production is projected at 117.3 million bales in MY27 on larger crops in Brazil, Greece and Turkey.
Source: BigMint
Cotton Was Never Enough. Now West Africa Is Building the Missing Textile Chain
Ecofin Agency: Togo Apparels Source made its first textile shipment to the US on August 24, adding to West and Central Africa's push to capture more of a textile value chain that currently keeps about 98% of the region's cotton exported as raw fiber. The C4+ countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, with Côte d'Ivoire) produce over 1 million tonnes of cotton a year, roughly half of Africa's output, but Benin and Togo are now taking different routes to build local processing: Benin's Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone has built spinning, knitting, dyeing and garment capacity designed to process 40,000 tonnes of cotton fibre a year, while Togo is expanding garment assembly first, with Star Garments and now Togo Apparels Source exporting from its Adétikopé Industrial Platform, before planning deeper backward integration. A UNIDO/ITC assessment estimates the C4+ countries would need about $5 billion in investment to process 25% of their cotton locally within a decade, a move projected to create around 500,000 direct jobs, against roughly $523 million invested so far in Benin's three integrated textile projects.
Source: Ecofin Agency
Regenerative Cotton Is Driving the Next Generation of Denim
Textile Today (Akhtaruzzaman Sajib): Denim brands and mills are increasingly building sourcing around regenerative cotton, tying farm-level practices to fabric development and traceability. G-Star RAW has developed denim using 75% regenerative and 25% recycled cotton, Citizens of Humanity has secured roughly 5 million pounds of regenerative cotton over two years through direct farm partnerships in the US and Turkey, and Madewell has sourced over 1 million pounds of certified regenerative cotton while signing three-year contracts with 27 US farms. On the milling side, Brazil's Vicunha is combining Regenagri-certified cotton with its Zero Fresh-Water Denim process, while the US Cotton Trust Protocol reported 2.34 million planted acres providing field-level sustainability data by July 2026, including an 87% improvement in water-use efficiency and 89% reduction in soil erosion among participating growers. The article argues this creates an opening for Bangladesh's denim manufacturers to partner with mills offering verified regenerative cotton alongside low-water, traceable finishing processes, as brands increasingly demand product-level proof of origin and environmental claims.
Source: Textile Today
