DTN Closing Cotton            01/15 13:35

   Cotton Sees Agony and Ecstasy  

   The cotton market remains on a narrow path as it battles time and farmer 
frustrations. 

Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   The cotton market remains on a narrow path as it battles time and farmer 
frustrations. However, there was a small bit of positive news earlier this week 
and even today.

   Highlights from Thursday's weekly export sales showed net sales of 339,700 
bales, which was a marketing-year high. That amount was up 89% on the four-week 
average. Top buyers, in order, were Vietnam, China, Pakistan, Indonesia and 
Bangladesh.

   Then a summary from this week's January WASDE revealed lower U.S. production 
of 13.53 million bales, down about 3% on the year. The cut lowered domestic 
ending stocks. In addition, global stocks were shaved off some 1.40 million 
bales.

   The U.S. dollar was higher early Thursday and was back near a four-week 
high, which normally can make U.S. cotton more expensive to export. However, 
the Brazilian real is hovering around 21-month highs relative to the greenback, 
thus there is something of a slight competitive edge for the U.S. 

   Friday at 3:30 p.m. EST, the CFTC will update its Commitments of Traders 
information. Last Friday's numbers showed managed-money funds had net bought 
some 1,300 positions, reducing their net-carry to 47,700 contracts.

   The market will be closed Monday in observance of the Martin Luther King Day 
holiday. However, trading will resume at 9 p.m. Monday night as part of 
Tuesday's session.

   For Thursday, March 206 went out at 64.71 cents, off 28 points; July was 
67.69 cents, down 22 points; and December 2026 closed at 69.10 cents, minus 22 
points. Thursday's estimated volume was 46,758 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at [email protected]




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