ICE cotton futures rebounded sharply on Monday after suffering heavy losses in the previous sessions, supported by hopes of improving agricultural trade relations between the United States and China, a weaker US dollar, and strong gains across commodity markets.
The most active July 2026 cotton contract settled at 83.70 cents per pound, gaining 3.09 cents or 3.83 percent. The December 2026 contract also rose by 2.07 cents to close at 83.98 cents per pound. Other contracts posted gains ranging from 109 to 239 points.
Market sentiment turned bullish throughout the session as traders engaged in aggressive short-covering following last week’s steep decline. Cotton futures recovered nearly half of the losses recorded during Thursday and Friday, when the July contract had dropped by 620 points.
Trading activity remained strong, with daily trading volume reaching 70,219 contracts, while total volume for Friday’s settled contracts stood at 131,417 contracts—one of the highest levels in ICE cotton market history.
A weaker US dollar further supported prices amid growing expectations that the US Federal Reserve may begin cutting interest rates later this year. The softer dollar improved the competitiveness of US agricultural exports and encouraged speculative buying.
Broader agricultural markets also provided support. CBOT soybean futures gained nearly 3 percent, corn futures climbed around 4.7 percent, and Chicago wheat futures advanced about 4.5 percent, boosting overall commodity market sentiment.
According to the latest USDA crop progress report, US cotton planting reached 41 percent completion by May 17, compared to 29 percent a week earlier and slightly above the five-year average of 40 percent.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s cotton exports continued to surge. Data from Secex showed that Brazil exported nearly 159,580 tons of cotton during the first half of May, marking a year-on-year increase of almost 74 percent.
