EUR/US$: 1.1177
U.S. Cotton: Losses Return as the Dollar Climbs
Barchart: Cotton futures fell 21 to 118 points on Wednesday, with Dec26 at 80.03 cents (-118 points), Mar27 at 83.12 (-105) and Oct26 at 76.30 (-118). Crude oil eased about 1.3% while the dollar index moved sharply higher. The Seam reported sales of 3,951 bales on October 6 at an average of 82.22 cents/lb. The Cotlook A Index jumped 210 points to 91.45 on Tuesday. ICE certified stocks fell another 4,435 bales to 17,756, and the Adjusted World Price stands at 65.16 cents/lb.
Source: Barchart
U.S. Cotton: Herd Mentality Ahead of Friday's USDA Report
Calcot (Cindy Walters): December settled at 80.03 cents, down 118 points, after three higher sessions, leaving a four-session net gain of 227 points. Volume of 41,421 contracts was the lightest in two weeks, and open interest has fallen by 7,264 contracts in four of the five sessions since its record of 389,494 on September 29. Calcot describes the last two days as herd mentality — most markets rose on Tuesday and so did cotton, most fell on Wednesday and so did cotton — though Friday's USDA supply and demand report may also be weighing on traders. The dollar index posted its highest close in 18 months, unwelcome for exportable commodities, the U.S. 10-year yield touched 5.36% before a strong Treasury auction, and the Fed's September minutes showed most officials expect another rate hike by year-end. Crude oil fell to its lowest close in four and a half weeks on faster release of emergency reserves. Certified stocks dropped to 17,756 bales; the low before this season was 8,600 bales in January, and Calcot says new certifications from the 2026 crop will be the thing to watch as a clue to demand. December open interest has declined for seven straight sessions, having peaked on July 7 — much earlier than last year's October peak. Technically, December slipped back below its 10-day moving average (80.50), and the widening of spreads — Dec/March at a record 309 points March premium — strengthens the bearish case. China's ZCE reopens on Thursday.
Source: Calcot
EU: Textile Turnover Rises for the First Time Since 2024 as Exports Return to Growth
Greek Fashion: EURATEX figures for the second quarter of 2026 show the European textile and clothing industry still under the pressures it has faced since 2023, but stabilising compared with the first quarter, with textiles doing slightly better. Production fell 6.2% in clothing (from -5.4% in Q1) and 3.1% in textiles (from -4.2%). Textile turnover rose 0.3%, the first increase since early 2024, while clothing turnover fell 3.9%. Exports grew for the first time in almost a year and a half, up 1.3% for clothing and 1.5% for textiles, while imports kept falling, by 0.6% and 2.3% respectively. Among suppliers of clothing, imports from India dropped 14.8%, Bangladesh 13.2% and Turkey 9.8%, while imports from China rose 10.4%; in textiles, Pakistan fell 12.5% and the United Kingdom 12%, while China gained 5%.
Source: Greek Fashion
Global: ITMF Survey Finds Fibre and Apparel Makers Ahead, Spinners Lagging
Textiles Resources: In the global textile chain, the two ends are outperforming the middle, according to the 40th ITMF Global Textile Industry Survey, conducted in September: fibre producers and apparel manufacturers are the only positive segments, while spinners and finishers lag and machinery makers suffer from companies' reluctance to invest. The overall business situation improved slightly and is well above the November 2023 low, but remains weak in what has become a new normal of high uncertainty; only South Asia and Africa are positive, while Europe and the Americas report the weakest conditions. Expectations for the next six months have improved, yet 46% of participants expect no change, suggesting the optimism rests more on hope than on concrete signals. Capacity utilisation rose to 71%, above the 68% low of November 2023 but well below the 80%-plus seen before late 2022, and order backlogs are short at 2.3 months. Weak demand remains the main concern for 56% of companies, with rising raw-material and energy costs pushing inflation up again since the war in Iran; companies are responding to U.S. tariffs mainly by diversifying into other markets. Inventories are lean in most regions — a record low in Southeast Asia — except in the Americas, where high stocks and weak orders point to unsold goods building up.
Source: Textiles Resources
Global: Most Better Cotton Farmers Cut Chemical Use and Emissions, Impact Report Finds
Just Style: Better Cotton (BCI) released its first impact report in five years on World Cotton Day, drawing on nine years of field data covering nearly a quarter of global cotton production. It finds that 69% of farmers in its programmes reduced synthetic nitrogen use per kilogram of cotton, 65% lowered pesticide application rates and 54% cut carbon emissions, while 59% of smallholders improved their net incomes and 52% of fully irrigated farms reduced water use per kilogram. Progress on crop protection is mixed, with gains among smallholders not yet consistent on larger farms, and women now hold 17% of field facilitation and producer unit roles, nearly double the share of five years ago. For the 2024/25 season alone, BCI reports pesticide use down 40% and irrigation water down 43%. Its annual report puts participation at 1.4 million farmers and licensed cotton at 6.1 million tonnes, with €18.5 million spent through its Growth and Innovation Fund, almost all of it on smallholders. Chief executive Nick Weatherill says data and evidence are the organisation's most important currency for building market trust.
Source: Just Style
Global: The Gin Holds the Key to Cotton Traceability, Denim Report Argues
Sourcing Journal: The latest instalment of the five-year #WhoMadeMyCotton investigation by denim professionals Ani Wells (Transformers Foundation) and Anne Oudard (Cotton Diaries), published on World Cotton Day after field visits in Brazil, India and Turkey, argues that transaction records alone cannot show the conditions in which cotton is grown. The authors place the gin at the centre of the problem: it is where agricultural output becomes textile input and where origin data already sit, because gins pay farmers or intermediaries for their cotton — but unless a gin works within a certified system its records are rarely standardised, and the information is lost once lots are blended. Tracing a garment back to its source therefore becomes a massive investigation, even with transaction certificates. Their answer is "relational traceability": recording origin data systematically and carrying it forward with each transaction, much like financial accounting, combined with direct, long-term relationships with farming communities. Knowing farmers lets brands hear early about factors affecting prices and yields before harvest, which Oudard calls field intelligence rather than a nice story, and the report urges brands to see cotton farming as communal instead of using single farmers as marketing devices.
Source: Sourcing Journal
Global: Cotton's Place in a Changing Fibre Market on World Cotton Day
Textile Today: World Cotton Day, marked on October 7, was designated by the UN General Assembly in 2021 on a proposal from the Cotton-4 countries — Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali. According to FAO data, around 80% of cotton goes into clothing and another 15% into home textiles; about 24 million producers grow it and the wider sector supports more than 100 million families. World production was around 26 million tonnes in 2024, with more than 9 million tonnes traded, and China, India, Brazil, the United States and Pakistan together account for over three-quarters of output. Cotton's share of global fibre consumption has fallen from about 60% in the 1960s to roughly one-fifth today because of the rise of polyester, though it remains the second most used fibre. Women make up about 43% of the cotton production workforce, and the sector's dependence on heat and water leaves it increasingly exposed to climate risk.
Source: Textile Today
Syria: Bid to Revive Cotton Runs Into High Costs and Water Shortages
Arab News: Syria is trying to rebuild its cotton industry, with the Mhardeh ginnery in Hama reopening on September 30 after four years idle and the Agriculture Ministry projecting national output of about 79,467 tonnes this season, up from 69,587 tonnes. But the decline in traditional areas is stark: in the Ghab plain, once a major growing area that produced more than 22,000 tonnes from 70 million square metres in 2011, only 44,000 square metres were planted this year against a target of 4.5 million, with about 12 tonnes expected, as local officials say cotton has become increasingly costly and farmers switch to less demanding crops. In Raqqa, 1,137 hectares of the 13,700 planted had been harvested by the time of reporting, yielding about 3,166 tonnes, with production costs of around $700 per tonne driven by fuel, seed, labour and fertiliser; with no state purchasing mechanism in place, growers are selling to private traders. Farmers and officials say reliable water, rehabilitated irrigation networks and dams, and a remunerative purchase price set before planting are essential, and in March the government signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Design Company to rehabilitate state-owned ginneries and mills.
Source: Arab News
Myanmar: Garment Industry to Shed 60,000 Jobs This Month
Textiles Resources: Myanmar's garment industry is expected to cut about 60,000 jobs in October, including more than 1,000 at Chinese-owned Sunrise (Myanmar) Fashion in Yangon, which makes clothing for Japanese labels and where most workers earn about $2.2 a day. Teng Hui (Myanmar), an H&M supplier, announced in September it would close as new orders dried up, leaving more than 3,000 people out of work, and around 17 Yangon factories working on a cut-make-pack basis have notified the investment commission of imminent closure. In August, workers at at least twelve plants in Yangon and Bago stopped work demanding pay rises in line with the rising cost of living. Labour groups trace the decline to the economic deterioration and sanctions that followed the 2021 military coup, with falling orders and shortages of skilled labour and raw materials; the Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association estimates the steady fall in garment exports since 2022 has cost about US$750 million in export earnings.
Source: Textiles Resources
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