Century-Old Cotton Law Stymies ICE Plan for Global Contract

A U.S. law dating back to World War I is thwarting Intercontinental Exchange Inc.’s bid to expand its share of global cotton trading.

ICE, whose New York futures for domestic cotton are valued at $6 billion, first said in 2013 it planned to list another contract, with fiber coming from as many as nine countries and deliverable in three. The problem: the Cotton Futures Act of 1916 requires anything listed in America to be inspected and graded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.