Cotton Heads Lower on Friday
Cotton futures were pulled lower on Friday, as contracts were down 72 to 116 points on the day. The outside markets had some effect, as crude as down $1.85/barrel on the session.
CFTC data showed managed money spec funds in cotton futures and options adding 4,357 contracts to their net short as of July 23 at 44,583 contracts.
With just under 2 reporting weeks left in the marketing year cotton export commitments of shipped and unshipped sales are 119% of the USDA forecast, 2% ahead of normal. Shipments are 93% of the projection, compared to the 96% average. Forward bookings are 2.72 million RB, which is above last year by 9.7%, but still on the lower end of the last several.
ICE cotton stocks were left unchanged on July 24, leaving 38,026 bales of cert stocks. The Cotlook A Index was down 70 points on July 24 at 79.05 cents/lb. The USDA Average World Price (AWP) was cut by 140 points to 55.02 cents/lb, and is in effect through next Thursday.
Dec 24 Cotton closed at 67.99, down 91 points,
Mar 25 Cotton closed at 69.76, down 90 points,
May 25 Cotton closed at 71.13, down 89 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.