The cotton market heated up in recent days at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) with the December futures contract settling higher six out of seven sessions through Aug. 27 as buyers returned and outpaced sellers. During its run, December gained 362 points. At the close of Wednesday’s ICE session, December cotton settled at 67.46 cents per pound, up 57 points and its highest close in more than a month.
December started this week moving lower while trading in a 143-point range Monday before gaining its footing and settling 3 points lower at 66.15 cents. Interestingly, all other futures contracts settled with modest gains despite a lack of any significant news.
Prices returned to more positive ground Tuesday on improved buying. December cotton settled 74 points higher at 66.89 cents per pound after moving as high as 66.95 cents in the last hour of trading. Other futures contracts closed with similar gains.
Before selling pressure returned during Thursday’s ICE session, December cotton traded up to 67.44 cents then moved lower to 66.12 cents. The contract tried to regain some ground but ultimately settled at 66.58, down 88 points.
The latest U.S. Crop Progress and Conditions Report showed the crop conditions were holding steady in the week ended Aug. 24. USDA reported 51 percent of the U.S. crop was rated good to excellent, up one percentage point from the previous week. The portion of the crop rated fair declined from 34 percent to 33 percent while 16 percent was rated poor to very poor, unchanged from the previous week. The department noted 90 percent of the crop was setting bolls, up from 88 percent a week earlier, but slightly behind the five-year average of 93 percent. Bolls were opening on 19 percent of acres, up from 12 percent the previous week and slightly ahead of the five-year average of 18 percent.
In Texas, 36 percent of the cotton crop was rated good to excellent, up two percentage points. Oklahoma’s crop was rated 59 percent good to excellent, and Kansas cotton was rated 59 percent in the same category.
Harvest in Texas’ Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) was close to 50 percent complete last week with early yields ranging from 2.5 bales per acre on irrigated fields to as high 5.0 bales. Some dryland fields in the region that received timely rains also were reporting good yields. Meanwhile, harvest in the Upper Coastal Bend was beginning to gain momentum.
In other news, net upland sales of U.S. cotton totaled 247,700 bales in the week ended Aug. 21, according to USDA, up almost 38 percent from the previous week. China, South Korea, Turkey, and Mexico were the featured buyers. Export shipments that week totaled 96,700 bales with Turkey, China, Vietnam, and Mexico the primary destinations.
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