Cotton Slipping Lower on Friday

Cotton plant closeup by Esin Deniz via iStock

Cotton futures settled the Friday session with contracts down 20 to 97 points across most contracts. December pulled back another 33 points this week. The outside markets were mixed, with crude oil adding some support and up $1.56/barrel, as the US dollar index was 281 points higher.

Weekly Export Sales data saw sales pick up, though commitments are still just 5.474 million RB. That is just 51% of USDA’s export projection and 11 percentage points behind the 50-year average sales pace.  

Commitment of Traders data showed spec funds in cotton futures and options trimming 6,470 contracts from their net short as of October 22. That halved the previous position, now at 6,194 contracts as if Tuesday.

The Seam reported 570 bales of online sales on October 24 at an average price of 71.25 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were unchanged on Thursday, leaving 174 bales of certified stocks. The Cotlook A Index was up 45 points on October 24 at 84.25 cents/lb. The USDA Adjusted World Price (AWP) was back up 4 points to 59.28 cents/lb on Thursday afternoon. 

Mar 25 Cotton  closed at 72.85, down 77 points,

May 25 Cotton  closed at 74.39, down 64 points,

Jul 25 Cotton  closed at 75.46, down 52 points


On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.