Producer
Paul Reinhart AG
Paul Reinhart AG (Winterthur Switzerland; private; founded 1788; one of the oldest continuously operating commodity trading houses in Europe) is a major European cotton merchant specializing in high-quality cotton origination and trading. Paul Reinhart sources cotton from the US (extra-long staple Pima/Supima from Arizona/California; upland from Texas), Egypt (Giza extra-long staple), Australia (machine-picked upland), Brazil (Cerrado Mato Grosso), and Central Asia. Paul Reinhart supplies European and Asian textile mills demanding quality-differentiated cotton (high-staple-length, low-micronaire cotton for premium fabrics). Founded in 1788 — before the US Constitution was ratified — Paul Reinhart has outlasted every other Swiss cotton merchant of its era. Paul Reinhart is estimated to handle ~3-4% of globally traded cotton with significant position in premium ELS (extra-long staple) grades.
1
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
0
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
1 input Paul Reinhart AG supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Paul Reinhart AG makes, pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map, where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
US Cotton Origination & Trading
45%Egyptian & African Cotton
25%Australian & South American Cotton
20%Central Asian & Other Origins
10%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains, chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Origin2023
Paul Reinhart AG was founded in 1788 in Winterthur, Switzerland — making it older than the United States Constitution (1789), older than the French Revolution (1789), and one of the oldest continuously operating commercial trading houses in Europe. Winterthur in the 18th century was a major Swiss textile trading hub, and Paul Reinhart grew as a cotton merchant serving the Swiss and Central European textile mills that were transforming raw cotton from American slave plantations and Egyptian farms into finished cloth. The company survived the American Civil War cotton embargo (1861-1865), when Union naval blockades cut off the Confederate cotton supply to European mills and triggered the "cotton famine" that idled Lancashire mills and put hundreds of thousands of British workers out of work. Paul Reinhart, like other European cotton houses, navigated the cotton famine by developing Egyptian and Indian supply relationships that diversified away from US cotton dependence — a supply chain risk management challenge in 1862 that remains the same analytical challenge for cotton-dependent textile manufacturers today. The company has outlasted every other Swiss cotton merchant founded in its era and continues from the same Winterthur city where it was founded 237 years ago.
Paul Reinhart AG ↗