Cotton: Characteristics
Staple length and micronaire: why fibre quality pays
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | 122.05 million 480-lb bales (about 26.6 Mt) in 2025/26; 117.95 million bales forecast for 2026/27; 24.7 Mt of lint (2023) | China (33.5 million bales) and India (24.0 million) lead in 2026/27, followed by Brazil and the US. | USDA WASDE / PSD, Oct 2026; FAOSTAT 2023 |
| Inventory and stock levels | 75.7 million bales of world ending stocks in 2025/26, 62.7% of use or about 7.5 months | China holds 36.24 million bales, about 48% of the total, much of it in Sinograin state reserves. India's stocks rose to 11.13 million bales (42% of use). CCI holds bales bought at MSP (100 lakh bales in 2024-25) and sells them by auction. Stocks outside China are the better guide to tightness. | USDA WASDE, Oct 2026; AgroSpectrum India, Apr 2025 |
| Capacity utilisation | not published as a world figure | Gins and spinning mills do not report a world utilisation rate. Mill use of 120.79 million bales against output of 122.05 million in 2025/26 shows a roughly balanced market. Indian spinning utilisation is not reported in the sources used. | USDA WASDE, Oct 2026 |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 22.7%, top-3 (China, India, Brazil) 56.9%, HHI 1,378; exports: Brazil 30.9% and US 30.0% of value | Production is unconcentrated but exports are concentrated: Brazil, the US and Australia supplied 75% of export value in 2024. China takes 46.9% of import value. Merchant shares (Louis Dreyfus, Olam, ECOM) are not published. | FAOSTAT 2023; UN Comtrade 2024 |
| Supply elasticity | high: annual crop, area responds each season | Farmers switch between cotton, soybeans, maize and pulses each year, so area responds to relative prices within one season. Yields depend on monsoon rain in India and irrigation water in Australia and Pakistan. | content_v2 cotton methods |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | no capacity pipeline; growth from yields and Brazilian area | Brazil grew to 18.75 million bales in 2025/26. India announced a five-year Mission for Cotton Productivity in the Union Budget 2025-26 to lift yields of 1,310 kg/ha seed cotton (indicative). CapEx figures are not published. | USDA WASDE, Oct 2026; FAOSTAT 2024; Union Budget 2025-26 (indicative) |
| Logistics and export flows | world exports 45.8 million bales, 38% of output (2025/26) | Bales move in containers from US Gulf and West Coast ports, Santos and Brisbane to China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Turkey. Container availability in Brazil and US freight rates are the usual bottlenecks. | USDA WASDE, Oct 2026 |
Material characteristics Agricultural / soft commodity
Cotton lint is priced on fibre properties measured by HVI instruments: staple length, strength, micronaire (fineness and maturity), uniformity, colour and trash. These decide which yarn counts a spinner can make and how efficiently. Longer, stronger, finer fibre spins into finer, stronger yarn and earns premiums.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staple length | ICE No.2 basis 1-2/32 inch (about 28.6 mm); Indian Shankar-6 about 29 mm; extra-long staple above 34.9 mm | Longer fibres spin finer yarn counts with less waste | ICE Cotton No.2 rules; Indian trade (indicative) |
| Micronaire | deliverable range 3.5-4.9; premium range about 3.7-4.2 | Low mic means immature fibre that dyes poorly; high mic means coarse fibre | ICE / USDA classing (indicative) |
| Strength | about 28-32 g/tex for good upland | Stronger fibre gives stronger yarn and fewer breaks in spinning | USDA HVI classing (indicative) |
| Colour grade | ICE basis Strict Low Middling (colour 41) | Whiter, brighter lint commands premiums and dyes evenly | ICE Cotton No.2; USDA classing (indicative) |
| Length uniformity | about 80-85% | Uniform fibres reduce short-fibre waste and yarn unevenness | USDA HVI classing (indicative) |
| Trash and contamination | leaf grade 1-7; contamination with plastic and jute is penalised | Trash raises cleaning losses; contamination causes defects in fabric | USDA classing; ICAC (indicative) |