Cotton futures were up 13 to 34 points to close out Friday, as March was up 186 points this week. The outside markets were mixed, as the US dollar index was up 525 points and the highest 2 years. Crude oil futures were up $1.09/barrel.

Cotton Ginnings data from NASS indicated a total of 2.157 million RB of cotton ginned in the first 2 weeks of November to the 15th, taking the marketing year total to 6.852 million RB. That is up 20% from the same point last year. 

Friday’s Commitment of Traders report short specs adding a massive 22,136 contracts to their net short as of November 19 to 35,987 contracts. 

Export Sales data showed 2024/25 upland cotton shipments totaling 1.858 million RB for the marketing year, 17% below last year and just 18% of the full year USDA export forecast (22% normally). Commitments, including shipped and unshipped sales, are 6.364 million RB, a 16% drop from last year.  That is 60% of USDA’s number, behind the 68% average export sales pace.

The Seam reported 12,433 bales of online sales on November 21 at an average price of 69.57 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were unchanged again on Wednesday, at 13,274 bales of certified stocks. The Cotlook A Index was up 100 points on 11/21 at 80.70 cents/lb. The USDA Adjusted World Price (AWP) was lowered by 229 points on Thursday afternoon to 55.91 cents/lb. 

Mar 25 Cotton  closed at 70.77, up 34 points,

May 25 Cotton  closed at 71.89, up 24 points,

Jul 25 Cotton  closed at 73, up 20 points