Triple Digit Strength from Friday Cotton

After the consolidation period since mid-July, cotton rallied triple digits on Friday. The board closed 134 to 156 points in the black. December printed a 320 point range on the day. 

CFTC reported managed money firms as 31,829 contracts net long in cotton as of 8/2. That was down 1,502 contracts from the prior week given net new spec selling. That left the group at their weakest net long since August of 2020. Commercial cotton traders added 6,668 new hedges, though the longs and shorts offset. The group was 55,735 contracts net short as of 8/2. 

The USDA’s weekly Cotton Market review had 311 bales sold at spot this week for an average price of $105.60 cents/lb. The MY total sales were 1.625m bales, compared to USDA’s reported 1.387m bales last year. The Cotlook A Index (old crop) was 40 points weaker to 112.85 cents on 8/4.  USDA’s AWP for cotton dropped 15.04 cents to 89.44 cents/lb. 

Oct 22 Cotton closed at 101.68, up 156 points,

Dec 22 Cotton closed at 96.13, up 151 points,

Mar 23 Cotton closed at 93.8, up 147 points