Cotton futures rebound, March cotton down

Cotton futures ended higher on Friday, with March cotton down 121 points for the week, Nasdaq reported on Sunday.

Positive outside market factors included a decrease in the US dollar index and a slight increase in crude oil prices, according to a report released by Nasdaq on Saturday.

Updated Cotton Ginnings data showed 1.748 million running bales (RB) of cotton ginned in the first 15 days of December, bringing the total for the marketing year to 11.425 million RB, a 13 per cent increase from last year.

CFTC Commitment of Traders report showed that managed money speculators were net short 7,034 contracts as of 12/17, up from their net short position of 29,257 contracts as of last Tuesday.

Export sales data for cotton shipments totalled 2.411 million RB, a 15 per cent decrease from last year and 23 per cent below the USDA’s export forecast. This lags behind the average shipping pace of 27 per cent for this time of year.

Total commitments, including shipped and unshipped, are at 7.207 million RB, down 11 per cent from last year and 68 per cent of the USDA projection, falling short of the 75 per cent average pace.

Attribution: Amwal Al Ghad English

Subediting: M. S. Salama