ICE cotton under pressure

Nearby months were trading between 54 to 81 points lower by 1234 GMT. July ’22 futures opened to the downside (-18) and lost further ground early in the session, dropping over 70 points lower just before 0600 GMT. Shortly after, the lead month started to gain ground and reversed course, topping out at an intraday high of 139.17 cents/lb (+29) by 0730 GMT. The move to positive ground was short-lived as selling returned and over the next few hours, the most active contract continued to lose ground, eventually falling to an intraday low of 137.76 cents/lb (-112) around 1200 GMT. By 1234 GMT, July cotton had moved off its low but was still trading under pressure and down 81 points.

For the week ended April 14, US export sales of upland cotton for the 2021/22 crop year amounted to 50,500 running bales (a marketing year low), which included cancellations for 27,500 bales. For the 2022/23 crop year, new sales amounted to 136,100 bales. Upland export shipments during the week for the current season were reported at 367,100 running bales.

Cotton futures on China’s ZCE settled higher overnight. By midday, the US dollar was trading lower, as well as corn and wheat while soybeans were trending higher.

Certificated stocks were last reported at 1,101 bales, unchanged from yesterday. There were no bales awaiting review and no bales reported in both cert stocks and CCC loan as of April 20.

Volume was estimated at 4,700 and nearby months were trading as follows by 1234 GMT:

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