Cotlook Index: 30-09-2026
89.45 (-3.90)
CAI Sees FTA Boost for Cotton Demand
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, Yash Chouhan, (Source: www.smartinfoindia.com)
FTA Expected to Boost Demand for Indian Textiles and Cotton; CAI Outlines Priorities
New Delhi: The Cotton Association of India (CAI) anticipates that India's Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) could open up new markets for Indian textile and cotton products, potentially creating additional demand opportunities for the domestic cotton and textile industries.
Addressing the CAI's 104th Annual General Meeting, President Vinay N. Kotak stated that the current cotton season has been largely positive for various stakeholders across the value chain, including farmers, ginners, traders, and spinners. He noted that new trade agreements could help enhance market access for Indian cotton and textile products internationally. India plays a pivotal role in the global cotton economy, ranking among the world's leading cotton producers and consumers. According to Kotak, improving productivity, quality, contamination control, traceability, and sustainability is essential to boost the competitiveness of Indian cotton. Additionally, there is a need to strengthen price discovery and risk management mechanisms. The CAI has formulated a ‘CAI Roadmap’ to address policy issues in collaboration with the government and other stakeholders. This roadmap covers matters such as the Minimum Support Price (MSP), the Reverse Charge Mechanism (RCM) on cotton procurement from farmers, and other issues relevant to the cotton value chain. The organization has also advocated for considering mechanisms like ‘Bhavantar’ (price deficiency payment schemes) as alternatives or supplements to the MSP. The CAI is working on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Brazil’s ABRAPA to foster cooperation and knowledge sharing in areas such as productivity, sustainability, traceability, and international cotton trade. Meanwhile, work is also underway to establish the proposed ‘India Cotton Index’ as a reliable and representative benchmark for Indian cotton. The CAI's priorities include increasing cotton productivity and farmers' income, improving quality, reducing contamination, and promoting scientific and sustainable farming. The organization also aims to strengthen market intelligence and risk management. Vinay N. Kotak has been appointed as President and Bhupendra Singh Rajpal as Vice President for the 2026-27 term.
Indian cotton stakeholders seek stronger labour rights in MP
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, (Source: www.fibre2fashion.com)
Insights: ILO RISE for Impact partners agreed measures to sustain labour-rights work in Madhya Pradesh cotton communities, including co-ordination, awareness and links to services. Indore and Ratlam discussions flagged small landholdings, migration, child labour risks, labour shortages and women farmers' care burden.Farmers explored care cooperatives and pilots for member-owned enterprises.
Partners in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) RISE for Impact project have agreed on measures to sustain efforts to promote fundamental principles and rights at work in cotton-growing communities in Madhya Pradesh, India. Priorities include stronger co-ordination, locally anchored awareness-raising and clearer links between farmers and government services.The discussions are relevant to cotton, textile and apparel supply-chain stakeholders as they focus on implementing labour rights at the farm-community level, including referral systems, access to services and locally owned mechanisms that can sustain the work beyond individual project activities. Representatives of trade unions, the cotton industry, civil society organisations and cotton-growing communities met in Indore in August to review the project’s progress, challenges and lessons, and identify ways to take its work forward, the ILO said in a press release. Participants highlighted the need for collaboration among local leaders, trade unions, community organisations, government institutions and other partners to integrate labour rights into rural and agricultural communities. They identified stronger inter-agency co-ordination, repeated community-level awareness-raising, evidence-based identification of gaps and greater attention to the root causes of migration and child labour as priorities. The partners also agreed to map organisations by geographical reach and expertise, strengthen referral and co-ordination mechanisms, share training materials and innovations, and establish a minimum set of responsibilities to help sustain the project’s work and achievements. The Indore event included the launch of a joint ILO and Dr BR Ambedkar University of Social Sciences report, 'Socio-economic assessment of the cotton growing community in Madhya Pradesh.'The study draws attention to farmers with extremely small landholdings who depend heavily on their own or family labour for cultivation, describing them as 'cultilabourers.' It also highlights how fragmentation of agricultural holdings can contribute to labour vulnerabilities. Participants discussed other persistent challenges for cotton-growing communities, including limited government and institutional reach in remote areas, difficulties in reaching geographically dispersed communities, seasonal migration and limited engagement of young people in agriculture and skills programmes.
Insaf Nizam, FPRW specialist, ILO Country Office for India said, "Mainstreaming FPRW in the rural sector necessitates effective collaboration among stakeholders."
The discussions continued in Ratlam, where more than 100 farmers participated in a field-level workshop organised by the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) and its subsidiary Cotton Development and Research Association (CITI-CDRA), the ILO said. Participants included cotton farmers and members of farmer producer organisations, self-help groups and prospective entrepreneurs from RISE for Impact focus districts in Madhya Pradesh.
Farmers at the workshop highlighted issues affecting the sustainability of cotton farming and rural livelihoods, including labour shortages, limited interest among educated young people in farming, the inability of some small farmers to afford hired labour and the double burden of paid and unpaid work faced by women farmers, which can also prevent them from joining training opportunities.
The workshop connected farmers with information on labour laws and grievance mechanisms, agricultural and rural finance, government programmes and opportunities for collaboration with agricultural institutions and government departments.
Participants also explored 'care cooperatives' as community-based, member-owned enterprises. Discussions considered how such cooperatives could respond to unmet care needs while creating livelihood opportunities, improving working conditions and giving workers and community members a stronger voice in how services are organised.
Bharti Birla, enterprise development specialist at the ILO Country Office for India, highlighted the importance of affordable, high-quality care, particularly where public care infrastructure is limited. She noted that community-based care models can help formalise and professionalise informal care work, improve wages and benefits, and give workers a democratic voice in shaping their working conditions.
Participants and stakeholders agreed to pilot initiatives promoted by the ILO for member-owned enterprises to improve working conditions, create sustainable jobs and address community care needs.
The two engagements underscored a shift from awareness of labour rights towards locally owned mechanisms embedded in cotton-growing communities in Madhya Pradesh.
India extends RoDTEP scheme till December 31, rates unchanged
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, (Source: www.fibre2fashion.com)
Insights: India has extended the RoDTEP scheme until December 31, 2026, continuing duty-remission support for eligible exports. DGFT said it will apply to DTA units, AA holders, SEZ units and EOUs, with existing rates and value caps unchanged. The move gives textiles, apparel, leather, engineering goods and other exporters predictability for October-December shipments.
India has extended the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme until December 31, 2026, providing continuity to exporters as the government seeks to maintain support for outbound shipments amid an uncertain global trade environment.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said the scheme would continue to apply to eligible exports made by Domestic Tariff Area (DTA) units, Advance Authorisation (AA) holders, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units and Export Oriented Units (EOUs). The extension was notified on September 30, 2026.
The existing RoDTEP rates and value caps, as applicable on September 30, 2026 under Appendix 4R and Appendix 4RE, will remain unchanged during the extended period. All other terms and conditions governing the scheme will also continue without change, according to the notification.
The latest extension gives exporters another three months of policy continuity under the duty-remission mechanism. RoDTEP is designed to refund certain embedded central, state and local duties and taxes that are not otherwise rebated through other mechanisms, helping reduce the tax burden carried by exported goods.
The scheme, introduced as part of India’s export-support framework, covers a wide range of products and operates through notified rates and value caps linked to individual tariff lines. Exporters receive the benefit in the form of transferable electronic duty credit scrips, subject to the applicable rules and eligibility conditions.
The continuation is particularly relevant for export-oriented industries such as textiles, apparel, leather, engineering goods and other manufacturing sectors where unrebated taxes can affect price competitiveness in overseas markets.
The government has kept the existing rate structure intact rather than revising product-wise benefits during the extension period. This provides exporters with greater predictability while planning shipments and pricing for the October-December quarter.
The notification said the extension had been issued with the approval of the competent authority. Unless further extended or revised, the present RoDTEP arrangement will remain in force until December 31, 2026.
Selling pressure continues in ICE cotton, sentiment weak
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, (Source: www.fibre2fashion.com)
Insights : ICE December 2026 cotton settles 34 points lower at 78.52 cents per pound, now 15.7 per cent below its August 31 high. Advancing US harvest, long liquidation, position adjustments, a firmer dollar and weak crude oil outweigh low stocks and China's reserve-sales suspension. Open interest hits a record 389,494 contracts; Cotlook A Index stays roughly 14.8 cents above ICE December.
ICE cotton futures remained under strong selling pressure on Wednesday as advancing US harvest activity, long liquidation, month-end and quarter-end position adjustments, a firmer US dollar and weakness in crude oil continued to weigh on market sentiment. Despite improved US export sales, low certified stocks and China’s suspension of State Reserve cotton sales, these supportive factors failed to offset the prevailing bearish pressure. The most-active December 2026 ICE cotton contract settled 34 points lower at 78.52 cents per pound on Wednesday. It traded between 79.60 cents and 78.11 cents during the session, an intraday range of around 149 points. The contract had settled at 78.86 cents on Tuesday after a 400-point limit-down move. Wednesday’s settlement was also 11 points below Tuesday’s synthetic settlement of around 78.63 cents, showing that immediate price momentum remained weak. From its contract-high close of 93.14 cents on August 31, December cotton has now fallen 14.62 cents, or around 15.7 per cent. The decline has taken the contract back into an important July price zone. Other ICE cotton contracts were also broadly lower, with most months declining by 16–43 points. March 2027, May 2027 and July 2027 also remained below their previous synthetic settlements, showing that selling pressure extended across the futures curve. Trading volume stood at 83,351 contracts, lower than Tuesday’s 112,170 contracts but still exceptionally high. Tuesday’s volume was the highest since June 11. Open interest increased by 2,590 contracts on Tuesday to a new all-time high of 389,494 contracts. The rise in open interest alongside falling prices may indicate fresh positioning and increased short-side participation, although price and open-interest data alone cannot conclusively confirm fresh short build-up. Cotton has experienced exceptionally high open interest during 2026, and the total is now close to 390,000 contracts. Such heavy positioning could amplify price swings if a major fundamental trigger emerges. US harvest developments remained a key bearish influence. According to USDA data for the week ended September 27, 70 per cent of the US cotton crop had bolls open, up five percentage points from the previous week, four points above last year and three points ahead of the five-year average. Harvesting was 17 per cent complete, around two percentage points ahead of the normal pace. Crop conditions were rated 12 per cent very poor, 23 per cent poor, 30 per cent fair, 29 per cent good and 6 per cent excellent. The combined good-to-excellent rating improved slightly to 35 per cent from 34 per cent a week earlier. As harvesting advances, particularly in Texas and the Southwest, expectations of higher physical cotton availability are adding seasonal pressure to futures. Market commentary has also linked the recent decline to long liquidation and month-end and quarter-end portfolio adjustments. A stronger US dollar has added pressure by making US cotton relatively more expensive for overseas buyers. Weak crude oil prices have offered little support either. Lower energy prices can improve the relative cost competitiveness of synthetic fibres, particularly polyester, compared with cotton.
ICE-certified cotton stocks remained relatively low at around 28,064 bales. Low certified stocks are potentially supportive for the market, but their influence has so far been overshadowed by futures selling.
China also introduced an important supply-side development, with China National Cotton Reserves Corporation suspending 2026 State Reserve cotton sales from September 30.
The suspension means that regular additional cotton supplies from reserve auctions will no longer enter the domestic market, shifting attention towards actual Chinese mill demand, commercial buying and imports.
Zhengzhou cotton futures were also weak, with the January contract around 15,615 yuan ($2,324) per tonne and May around 15,635 yuan ($2,327) per tonne, indicating that bearish sentiment remained evident in both ICE and Chinese markets.
A sizeable divergence persisted between physical cotton benchmarks and futures. The Cotlook A Index was around 93.35 cents per pound, compared with the December ICE settlement of 78.52 cents, leaving a gap of roughly 14.8 cents.
The current market therefore reflects contrasting signals. Physical benchmarks remain well above ICE prices and certified stocks are low, while futures are being pressured by harvest expectations, liquidation and heavy positioning.
This morning (Indian Standard Time), December 2026 cotton was trading at 78.27 cents per pound (down 0.27 cent). Cash cotton was traded at 76.27 cents (unchanged), while the October 2026 contract traded at 74.79 cents (unchanged). The March 2027 contract was at 81.20 cents (down 0.18 cent), May 2027 at 82.83 cents (down 0.25 cent), and July 2027 at 83.29 cents (down 0.24 cent).
Taloda Cotton Harvesting Gains Pace
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, Yash Chouhan, (Source: www.smartinfoindia.com)
Cotton Harvesting Picks Up Pace in Taloda Taluka; Farmers Turn to Private Traders as CCI Procurement Yet to Start Cotton harvesting has accelerated in Taloda Taluka as September draws to a close. A large number of farmers in the region cultivate cotton. While rainfall fluctuations have led to significant variations in cotton yields this year, farmers are nonetheless busy harvesting and securing their ready crops as quickly as possible. Currently, actual procurement by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has not yet commenced. However, the CCI center in Borad is operational, and the farmer registration process is underway. In the meantime, farmers are selling their new cotton harvest to private traders. Around four to five private traders in Borad village have started purchasing cotton from farmers. Farmers face the dual challenge of needing immediate cash and the difficulty of storing cotton with high moisture content for extended periods. Storing harvested cotton with moisture at home risks compromising its quality; consequently, many farmers are prioritizing selling their produce at prevailing market rates. According to local traders, current prices range from ₹6,500 to ₹8,500 per quintal, depending on the cotton's quality and moisture content. Farmers are transporting their harvested cotton directly to the traders. In the Borad area, private traders are receiving approximately 8 to 10 quintals of cotton daily, with some traders receiving around 5 to 6 quintals per day. Farmers are now keenly awaiting the start of actual CCI procurement and the announcement of government purchase prices.
CCI Cuts Cotton Price by ₹2,700
Thursday, 1st Oct 2026, Yash Chouhan, (Source: www.smartinfoindia.com).
CCI Cuts Cotton Prices by ₹2,700 per Candy; Weekly Auction Sales Stood at 6,300 Bales
The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) reduced its cotton selling price by ₹2,700 per candy during the week ended 02 October 2026. During the week, CCI sold approximately 6,300 bales of cotton from the 2025–26 crop through its auctions.
Day-Wise CCI Auction Performance
September 28, 2026 (Monday)
CCI began the week with sales of 2,600 bales, with mills purchasing 2,000 bales and traders buying 600 bales.
September 29, 2026 (Tuesday)
A total of 1,200 bales were sold on this day and all were purchased by mills.
September 30, 2026 (Wednesday)
CCI sold 2,500 bales, including 1,300 bales purchased by mills and 1,200 bales by traders.
October 01, 2026 (Thursday)
The week concluded with no bales sold in both the sessions.
Cumulative Sales
With the latest auction activity, CCI’s cumulative cotton sales for the 2025–26 season reached approximately 94.46 lakh bales.
