Washington, DC — With world cotton lint demand and supply metrics for 2025/26 remaining comparable to last month — production at 25.43 million tonnes and consumption at 25.4 million tonnes — the biggest development is in ending stocks, expected to be the lowest since 2011/12.

The 3.8% decrease in stocks, to 15.37 million tonnes, is mostly being driven by China, whose 2024/25 ending stocks declined 9% to 7.89 million tonnes. The use of stocks is the primary reason China's imports fell 65% to 1.1 million tonnes. For 2025/26, China has announced that it will issue 200,000 tonnes of sliding tariff rate cotton import quotas to textile enterprises to meet their cotton needs, same as last year.

While the stocks outside China increased by 2% in the 2024/25 season, a major increase is reported by the USA, which ended the 2024/25 season with 9% higher ending stocks compared to the previous season at 817,000 tonnes. Apart from the USA, both Brazil and the West Africa region are also currently reporting higher ending stocks in the 2024/25 season.