The cotton market finished mixed Thursday on the second lowest volume session of the year. The lowest volume day occurred on June 13, with 13,145 contracts traded. Thursday’s estimated volume was trade 13,456. Earlier in the day, USDA reported better sales and exports. Combining both crop years and weekly sales, business totaled some 366,000 bales, and China was a small buyer in the new crop.
India is forecast to receive improving monsoonal rains over the next two weeks. It has been grossly rain deficit, as its average rainfall is below a 50-year average. The country is facing a water crisis of biblical proportions. On its last report, USDA upped India’s production some 500,000 bales.
As the market approached the end-of-the-week, December cotton is up 1.20 cents. Of course, any given Friday can prove to be a pivotal day. Last week, the market soared some 2.3% as it posted triple-digit gains.
However, since that time, data from USDA’s weekly condition report have swelled to a 60% good-to-excellent rating. The next condition report comes out on Monday at 4 p.m. The next major crop report comes on August 12, when USDA publishes its monthly supply-demand data.
Next week all eyes will be on the renewed U.S.-China trade talks. Chinese and U.S. top negotiators will meet in Shanghai. Although, a final deal is not expected, it is hoped the Chinese will at least buy large quantities if U.S. farm products.
For Thursday, December cotton settled at 63.19 cents, down 0.13 cent, March cotton settled at 65.15 cents, up 0.03 cent, December 2020 cotton closed at 66.12 cents, down 0.10 cent.
