DTN Closing Cotton            08/06 13:32

   Cotton Holds Steady Despite Weak Export Sales

   The cotton market sloughed off less-than-robust export sales to close 
essentially unchanged.

Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   The cotton market sloughed off less-than-robust export sales to close 
essentially unchanged. ICE futures continue to exhibit a certain technical 
resilience, even while the market's fundamentals slowly unfold and emerge.

   Highlights from Thursday's weekly export sales included a marketing-year-low 
sales number of 55,000 bales for the ending 2025/2026 season, while sales for 
the 2026/2027 crop year were 242,100 bales. Weekly shipments were 222,800 
bales, with both categories below last week's numbers.

   Friday at 3:30 p.m. EDT, the CFTC will update its Commitment of Traders 
data. The previous report showed that the managed-money funds net sold some 700 
positions, slightly reducing their net-long carry to 52,410 contracts.

   Next week, Wednesday, Aug. 12, USDA will present its August crop report, 
updating the various supply-demand tables. Last month, the 2026 crop was raised 
from 13.30 million bales to 13.70 million bales, while ending stocks were also 
increased from 3.70 million bales to 4.10 million bales. The data will be out 
at noon EDT.

   For Thursday, December closed at 83.16 cents, plus 14 points; March 2027 
finished at 84.89 cents, up 18 points; and July 2027 settled at 85.75 cents, up 
24 points. Thursday's estimated volume was 41,320 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at [email protected]




(c) Copyright 2026 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.