#Raw Materials

2025-03-06

The evolving landscape of cotton planting decisions in 2025/26

Right now, cotton farmers in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres are facing a daunting task: how to make critical planting decisions during a time of extreme uncertainty.

Growers in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in the United States, India, and China, face a complex set of factors influencing their cotton planting decisions. Climate variability and water availability play a crucial role, as increasing unpredictability in weather patterns — including prolonged droughts, and excessive rainfall — necessitate a reliance on advanced climate models to determine optimal planting windows. Water availability remains a pressing concern, especially in water-stressed regions such as Texas in the USA and Gujarat in India.

In the Southern Hemisphere, cotton planting cycles differ, with major decisions occurring from September to December. Expanding arable land in Brazil offers a distinct advantage, as unlike the U.S. and India, where farmland is often limited, Brazil has been able to increase cotton acreage in the Cerrado region, utilizing degraded pastureland for high-yield cotton production. Favorable climate conditions provide another benefit, as Brazil’s well-defined wet and dry seasons reduce the risks of excessive rain during harvesting. In contrast, Australia faces water allocation restrictions, and Argentina deals with erratic weather patterns.

Price Projections

The Secretariat’s current price forecast of the season-average A index for 2024/25 ranges from 92.00 cents to 97.00 cents, with a midpoint at 94.00 cents per pound.

For the most up-to-date statistics, please refer to the Data Dashboard. It is updated with new data constantly, and that new information is immediately reflected on the Dashboard, making it a valuable, up-to-date resource all month long. You can view a video tutorial on how to use the ICAC Data Dashboard on the ICAC’s YouTube page here. * Please note: At press time, the Data Dashboard is unavailable. It will be restored as soon as possible.

Please note that the cotton balance sheets have been moved to the ICAC Data Dashboard. This ensures that the season balance sheets are always up-to-date and available whenever you need them. This also helps to reduce errors because the data is compiled directly from our database. They are included in this PDF report, but we strongly encourage users to obtain all data from the Dashboard.

ICAC to collaborate with Uzbekistan and Bizpando on regenerative agriculture

The Government of Uzbekistan has allocated 55,000 hectares of land to implement a regenerative agriculture program for cotton as part of a collaborative project with the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) and Bizpando, a company with a a blockchain-based internet platform designed to ensure supply chain compliance.

ICAC announces postponement of the 83rd Plenary Meeting in Tanzania

Due to unforeseen circumstances arising from the recent developments in Tanzania, the ICAC has announced that its upcoming 83rd Plenary Meeting has been postponed. Scheduled for Nov. 17-20 in Mwanza, the delay was recommended by Tanzania, and the decision was made out of an abundance of caution, prioritizing the safety and well-being of all participants.

World Cotton Trade declined 4.1% in 2024/25, according to ICAC's 2025 World Cotton Trade Report

Washington, DC — The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has released the 2025 World Cotton Trade Report, which covers trade developments in raw cotton since 1980. An annual publication, it provides analysis of world trade by region; import/export projections by country; matrices of trade flows; and seasonal estimates of export commitments to date.

BCI warns against ‘dangerous dilution’ of EU corporate directives

The approval of the European Commission’s Omnibus I proposal by the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs, accepting controversial changes to key sustainability directives is of great concern. These changes, namely to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), threaten to significantly dilute business reporting and due diligence obligations.

ICAC releases 2025 edition of the Specialty Cotton Report

The ICAC has released the newest edition of the Specialty Cotton Report, a free publication that was created in 2023 to highlight the many new "identity cotton programs" that have been emerging around the world, in addition to covering long-staple (LS) and extra-long staple (ELS) cotton. For the ICAC's purposes, "specialty cotton" refers to any cotton that is remarkable in some way — LS, ELS, or falls under a specific identity program.

Fashion For Good launches “Beyond50 Denim” to address hemp integration barriers in global denim production

Fashion for Good, together with leading global brands BESTSELLER, C&A, PDS Limited, Reformation, and Target, launched Beyond50 Denim: Combining Cottonised Hemp and Green Chemistry, a project accelerating the use of hemp as an alternative to conventional cotton in denim. By combining two pioneering innovations (SEFF’s Nano-Pulse™ cottonised hemp fibres and FIBRE52™’s proprietary chemistry formulations with soft handfeel), the project seeks to demonstrate that hemp-based denim can match or even surpass cotton in both performance and appeal.

Spinnova and Rieter to publish a yarn spinning guideline for industrial partners

Spinnova and Rieter have published a comprehensive yarn spinning guideline for industrial partners, detailing how to produce compact yarn from SPINNOVA® fibre using Rieter’s state-of-the-art machinery. The step-by-step guide outlines key considerations at each stage of the spinning process and is available upon request.

Innovation and customer proximity – KARL MAYER’s clear focus makes an impression

ITMA ASIA in Singapore was a resounding success for KARL MAYER, exceeding all expectations. The company welcomed visitors from 39 countries and held around 570 expert discussions. Most guests came from India, followed by China, Indonesia and Pakistan. The exchange with them was both well-founded and targeted. Conversation topics ranged from investment projects and new technologies to opportunities for cooperation and business expansion.

Catching heart disease early with AI-based sensor system

It slips on like a normal vest: Fraunhofer IZM has created a smart sensor system in cooperation with the Charité and the Technical University of Berlin. The vest records a vast array of cardiovascular parameters, which an AI-based system uses to support medical diagnostics and spot potentially dangerous developments.