Cotton futures closed higher Thursday in daytime trading on the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE). The most active cotton contract for September 2023 delivery gained 20 yuan (about 2.90 U.S. dollars) to close at 15,175 yuan per tonne. On Thursday, the total trading volume for six listed cotton futures contracts on the ZCE was 648,502 lots with a turnover of 49.1 billion yuan. As the world’s largest producer, consumer and exporter of textile, China listed cotton futures on ZCE in June 2004, helping cotton-related enterprises hedge the price risk.