Cotton futures at the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) fell into negative territory Monday morning before returning to positive ground Monday afternoon. December cotton fell to 76.68 cents per pound before reaching a high of 77.9 cents and settling up 60 points at 77.68 cents. According to an analyst, “December ignored the complete meltdown of July today.” The July cotton fell 64 points before settling at 87.52 cents.
The latest crop report showed that 40 percent of the Texas crop is in good to excellent condition, while 41 percent is in fair condition. The crop in Texas is 97 percent planted, just below the five- year average of 98 percent, with 15 percent squaring and 5 percent setting bolls. For the Oklahoma crop, 53 percent of the crop is reported to be in good to excellent condition while 42 percent is in fair condition. In Kansas 41 percent of the crop is in fair condition while 55 percent is reported to be in good to excellent condition.
“The market is exhausted, traders are exhausted, and there is not much taste for adding to risk,” one analyst said. Tuesday December cotton reached a high of 77.68 cents before settling at 76.49 cents, down 119 points from the previous trading session. July cotton fell 571 points to settle at 81.81 cents. A different analyst said, “Given the current market signals from the collapsing July and general good crop development weather, the market may want to see some stability before buyers wade back in a meaningful way.”
Cotton trading volume was up on Wednesday at 18,800 bales, up from 13,000 bales the previous day. The December contract reached a high of 76.81 cents before settling at 75.26 cents. This close is the lowest since January 2013.
December futures continued to lose ground on Thursday as it had its third consecutive lower close. It fell to a low of 73.71 cents before settling down 63 points at 74.63. July cotton reached a high of 81.15 cents before settling at 80.37 cents, down 143 points. ICE reported that a total of 637 July notices have been issued for the period.
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