Cotton Holding Higher on Tuesday

Cotton field by William Dunn via iStock

Cotton futures are trading with contracts 21 to 50 points in the red on Tuesday. The outside markets are supportive factors, with crude oil futures up 29 cents/barrel and the US dollar index back down $0.628 on the day.

This morning’s update to the USDA cotton balance sheet saw no changes to the US side, with stocks left at 4.9 million bales. The average farm price was down 50 points to 63 cents/lb. The Cotton Ginnings report showed another 162,950 RB ginned during February. That took the season’s total to 14.124 million RB, 20.23% above the same time last year. 

On the world side of the balance sheet, stocks for 2024/25 were down just 80,000 bales to 78.33 million bales. That came on a 200,000 bale reduction to Brazil on increased exports, with Australian stocks up 100,000 bales.

The Monday online auction from The Seam showed 4,756 bales sold, with an average price of 61.17 cents/lb. The Cotlook A Index was up another 75 points on 3/10 at 77.70 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were steady again on March 10 with the current level of certified stocks at 14,488 bales. The USDA slashed their Adjusted World Price (AWP) last Thursday afternoon by 201 points to 51.88 cents/lb. 

May 25 Cotton  is at 66.21, up 21 points,

Jul 25 Cotton  is at 67.42, up 21 points,

Oct 25 Cotton  is at 69.11, up 49 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.