Big Moves Continue for Cotton

The volatility in the cotton futures market stuck around into Thursday’s midday, with front month futures down 349 to 595 points so far. July is the sharpest drop at midday. 

Weekly FAS data had 223,356 RBs of old crop cotton sold for export during the week of 4/28. That was nearly double last week’s volume and compares to 63.6k RBs during the same week last year. New crop bookings were 93,174 RBs, also above last week and the same week last year. Total forward sales were pegged at 2.94m RBs as of 4/28, 69% above last year’s pace. 

Official cotton export shipments were 1.946 million bales in March. That was up 19% from Census’s Feb and from Census’s March ’21 data. Total cotton shipments hit 8.3 million bales for the season through March, leaving about 6.45m bales to be shipped through the remaining 4 months. 

USDA’s Daily Spot Quotations report showed 468 bales were sold at spot in the 5/4 report. MYTD sales totaled 1.61m bales. The Cotlook A index was down by 60 points on 5/4 to 168.70 cents. USDA’s AWP for cotton is 138.6 cents, and will be updated after the close.   

Jul 22 Cotton  is at 148.89, down 587 points,

Dec 22 Cotton  is at 125.44, down 434 points,

Mar 23 Cotton  is at 119.71, down 395 points