Cotton Collapse on Friday, as Specs Add to Record Net Short
Cotton futures settled the Friday session with contracts down 129 to 135 points in the front months. May lost 209 points (-3.1%) this week. The outside markets were pressure factors. Crude oil futures were down 40 cents/barrel, with the US dollar index $0.329 higher on the day.
Managed money spec traders were adding another 11,067 contracts to their net short as of 2/25, to a record net short of 68,453 contracts.
Export Sales data has total commitments for export sales at 9.61 million RB, which is down 8% from last year and 93% of USDA’s export projection, on pace with normal. Actual shipments are 4.508 million RB, which is down 16% yr/yr and 44% of the USDA number, lagging the 46% average.
The Seam showed 4,795 bales in online sales on February 27, with an average price of 59.13 cents/lb. The Cotlook A Index was down another 50 points on 2/27 at 77.50 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were steady on Thursday with the current level of certified stocks at 12,653 bales. The USDA cut back their Adjusted World Price (AWP) on Thursday afternoon by 78 points to 53.89 cents/lb.
Mar 25 Cotton closed at 63.88, down 132 points,
May 25 Cotton closed at 65.25, down 135 points,
Jul 25 Cotton closed at 66.39, down 129 points
On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder 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.