Where do natural fibres and rubber come from?

Fibres & other raw materials covers cotton, jute, natural rubber, silk, sisal, wool. What moves them together: Synthetic substitutes and oil prices, tree and crop disease, labor availability, tyre demand, fashion cycles.

What stands out across fibres & other raw materials?

Among the 6 commodities in fibres & other raw materials with a production ranking, supply is most concentrated in jute, where Bangladesh produced 56% of the world total in 2024, and least concentrated in wool, where the largest producer, China, produced 21% in 2024. China is the largest producer of 2 of the 6. In 4 of them the largest producer is not the largest exporter by value, as for cotton, where China produced 23% and Brazil led exports of raw cotton lint (HS 5201) with 30%. Production years differ by commodity and sources are FAOSTAT, USGS or the Energy Institute; exports are CEPII BACI trade records.

In the twelve months to September 2026, 3 of 3 priced commodities in this category had a higher benchmark price, with the largest rise for wool (+60%) and the smallest rise for cotton (+22%). These are monthly benchmark series in their own units, from the World Bank Pink Sheet, IMF or other sources named on each price page, and a twelve-month change says nothing about what comes next.

Commodities in this category

Fibres & other raw materials commodities with top producers and latest prices
Commodity	Top producers	Latest price	12 months
Cotton The seed fibre of the cotton plant, ginned into lint and spun into yarn; the world's main natural textile fibre.	Share of world cotton production: China 23%, India 22%, Brazil 12%, Rest of world 43%. China 23%, India 22%, Brazil 12% (2023)	$2.1/kg Cotlook A Index, CFR Far East	+22%
Jute A bast fibre retted from stems in the Ganges delta and woven into sacking, twine and geotextiles.	Share of world jute production: Bangladesh 56%, India 38%, Cambodia 4.1%, Rest of world 1.4%. Bangladesh 56%, India 38%, Cambodia 4% (2024)	—	—
Natural rubber Latex tapped from the Hevea tree, coagulated into sheets or block rubber; two-thirds of it goes into tyres.	Share of world natural rubber production: Thailand 32%, Indonesia 15%, Ivory Coast 11%, Rest of world 41%. Thailand 32%, Indonesia 15%, Ivory Coast 11% (2024)	$2.41/kg TSR20, SGX/SICOM	+39%
Silk Filament reeled from the cocoon of the mulberry silkworm, the only natural continuous-filament fibre.	Share of world silk production: India 56%, China 32%, Uzbekistan 6.5%, Rest of world 5.8%. India 56%, China 32%, Uzbekistan 6% (2024)	—	—
Sisal A hard leaf fibre cut from agave plants, used for agricultural twine, rope and polishing cloth.	Share of world sisal production: Brazil 40%, Tanzania 26%, Kenya 9%, Rest of world 25%. Brazil 40%, Tanzania 26%, Kenya 9% (2024)	—	—
Wool Fleece shorn from sheep, sold greasy by micron thickness and scoured before spinning.	Share of world wool production: China 21%, Australia 17%, New Zealand 7.4%, Rest of world 55%. China 21%, Australia 17%, New Zealand 7% (2024)	1,595¢/kg Wool, fine 19 micron, Australian Wool Exchange spot	+60%

Price index since 1960

Other raw materials index

Source: World Bank Commodity Price Data (The Pink Sheet), monthly indices, 2010 = 100, published 2026-10-02. CC BY 4.0.

Indices are monthly averages and lag the market; informational only, not investment advice.

Which fibres & other raw materials prices move together?

Within fibres & other raw materials, cotton and natural rubber are the most closely linked: their monthly price changes correlate at 0.33. Correlation of monthly log price changes (not price levels), computed only over pairs with at least 90 overlapping months, the same method as the site-wide linked-prices report and the correlation calculator — this view is scoped to fibres & other raw materials alone, which the site-wide report's top pairs rarely include.

Green: prices that rise and fall together. Brown: prices that move in opposite directions. Thicker and darker lines are stronger correlations.

Data updated 22 October 2026.