Cotton prices are trading lower on Friday’s midday, with nearby July a tick off the 300 point limit lower and other contracts 19 to 52 points in the red. Outside factors are piling on the pressure, with crude oil down 59 cents, as the US dollar index is up 208 points.

Export Sales data from this morning showed an uptick in old crop cotton bookings at 189,016 RB for the week that ended on June 13, a 3-week high. China purchased 82,200 RB, with Vietnam in for 38,600 RB. New crop sales slipped from last week’s MY high to 111,799 RB. Guatemala was the lead buyer of 24,600 RB, with Turkey purchasing 15,400 RB. Export shipments were tallied at 197,905 RB, a 4-week high and 6.03% increase from a week ago. Unshipped sales still sit at a large 3.25 million RB with just 7 weeks left in the marketing year.

The ICE certified cotton stocks were up 469 bales on June 20 at 136,656 bales. There were 0 decerts, and 5,334 bales awaiting review. The Cotlook A Index was unchaged on June 20 at 82.70 cents/lb. The USDA Average World Price (AWP) was down another 67 points to 56.65 cents per pound on Thursday. It is good through next week. 

Jul 24 Cotton  is at 67.86, down 299 points,

Dec 24 Cotton  is at 72.1, down 52 points,

Mar 25 Cotton  is at 73.54, down 42 points