Cotton Starting Wednesday with Strength

Cotton price action is up 18 to 25 points so far on Wednesday. Futures posted Tuesday gains of 10 to 19 points at the close, as contracts held up despite a mildly bearish USDA report. Crude oil futures were down 49 cents per barrel at $58.39 on the day, with the US dollar index $0.114 higher to $99.175. 

USDA’s Crop Production report left acreage alone, but raised yield by 10 lbs/acre to 929 lbs. That took production up 150,000 bales to 14.27 million bales. In the WASDE, there were some adjustments in the unaccounted and domestic use to take projected ending stocks up 200,000 bales to 4.5 million. The cash average price was trimmed by 2 cents to 60 cents/lb. The world stocks were left steady, as just a 40,000 bale increase was noted at 75.97 million bales. 

Cotton Ginnings data showed 8.645 million RB of cotton ginned as of December 1, a 10.25% decline from the same date last year.

Commitment of Traders data for the week ending on November 4 showed specs trimming 10,311 contracts from their net short position in that week to 63,782 contracts.

The Monday online auction from The Seam saw sales on 5,608 bales at an average price of 60.2 cents/lb. The Cotlook A Index was down 25 points on December 8 at 73.95 cents. ICE certified cotton stocks were steady on 12/8 with the certified stocks level at 13,971 bales. The Adjusted World Price was updated last week to 51.28 cents/lb last week, up 51 points from the previous week.

Mar 26 Cotton  closed at 63.86, up 18 points, currently up 23 points

May 26 Cotton  closed at 64.92, up 16 points, currently up 19 points

Jul 26 Cotton  closed at 65.91, up 11 points, currently up 18 points