Cotton Heads Lower to Round Out the Week

The cotton market closed with losses of 55 to 133 points across most contracts on Friday, despite USDA calling for a tighter carryout on old crop. 

The Friday afternoon Commitment of Traders report showed spec adding 11,765 contracts to their new net short position as of 5/7 at 13,699 contracts. 

USDA’s final cotton production estimate was released at 12.07 million bales this morning, as the WAOB trimmed the old crop carryout total by 100,000 bales to 2.4 million. For new crop, initial production is seen at 16 million bales, with the stocks total building to 3.7 million bales.

For the world side of the balance sheet, WAOB took the 23/24 carryout 2.6 million bales lighter to 80.48 million, mainly on a smaller carry-in. The 24/25 ending stocks figure is projected to build by 2.53 million bales to 83.01 million. 

The Seam reported 440 bales sold on Thursday at an average price of 73.25 cents/lb. ICE certified cotton stocks were down 1,492 on decertification on May 8 at 166,487 bales. The Cotlook A Index was up another 250 points on May 8 at 87.90 cents/lb. The AWP dropped another 91 points to 59.64 on Thursday and is good through next week.

Jul 24 Cotton closed at 77.31, down 129 points,

Oct 24 Cotton closed at 76.74, down 101 points,

Mar 25 Cotton closed at 76.73, down 128 points

On the date of publication, Alan Brugler 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.