The IMF global cotton index, monthly since 1992. This is the world reference the Chinese futures pages are explicitly not — read the two together and the domestic premium is visible rather than merely disclaimed.
89 US cents per lb ↑ 2.88%
Settled 2026-07-01
Against a week ago (2026-02-01): ↑ 20.03%
Against a month ago (2024-09-01): ↑ 7.53%
Against a quarter ago (2021-02-01): ↓ 4.30%
415 observations held, 1992-01-01 to 2026-07-01.
Where these figures come from
- Cotton, world price (monthly) — International Monetary Fund via FRED, PCOTTINDUSDM, observed 2026-07-01. the day's published table
Read this first. These are settlement prices from the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange — the Chinese domestic market, in yuan per tonne, for a dated futures contract. They are not Cotlook A, not a world price, and not what a trader paid for a bale this morning. They are carried because China spins more than anywhere else, so the direction is the market’s direction even where the level is not.