Cotton Sneaking Higher on Wednesday AM

Cotton field with drones by DJI-Agras via Pixabay

Cotton prices are up 1 to 7 points so far on Wednesday. Futures closed out the Tuesday session with contract anywhere from 12 points lower in the nearbys to up 11 points in the deferreds. The outside markets are mostly supportive, with crude oil up $1.85/barrel and the US dollar index just 16 points higher.

Crop Progress data showed the US cotton crop with 94% setting bolls, 3% ahead of the 5-year average pace. Harvest was 44% complete as of October 20, 6 percentage points ahead of normal. Condition ratings were up 3% to 37% good/excellent, but just 1 point higher at 295 on the Brugler500 index as there was a shift to very poor.

Cotton Ginnings data showed a total of 1.148 million RB of cotton ginned in the first two weeks of October. That brough the year’s total to 2.294 million RB as of October 15, which is up 33% from the same point last year. 

The Seam reported 5,181 bales of online sales on October 21 at an average price of 67.63 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were unchanged on Monday, leaving 174 bales of certified stocks. The Cotlook A Index was back up 25 points on October 21 at 82.60 cents/lb. The USDA Adjusted World Price (AWP) was trimmed by another 117 points on Thursday to 59.24 cents/lb. 

Mar 25 Cotton  closed at 74.04, down 8 points, currently up 1 point

May 25 Cotton  closed at 75.41, down 9 points, currently up 6 points

Jul 25 Cotton  closed at 76.37, down 7 points, currently up 6 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.