DTN Closing Cotton            11/20 13:37

   Cotton Ends Lower

   The cotton market was pushed-and-shoved today but ended the session somewhat 
lower. 

Keith Brown
DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

   The cotton market was pushed-and-shoved today but ended the session somewhat 
lower. Traders were squaring up ahead of delivery and were negatively 
influenced by seeing the U.S. dollar hitting a six-month high. In addition, the 
Chicago grains, metals, CME livestock and the equity markets were down.

   The Commitments of Traders Report released Wednesday, Nov. 19, the first one 
since the government shutdown ended, showed that managed-money funds were net 
sellers of 2,737 contracts for the week ending Sept. 30, increasing their net 
short to 64,740. That tally is not too far from their record net short of 
79,957 contracts seen in March.

   USDA cotton export sales for the week ending Oct. 2 showed net sales of 
198,985 bales, all for the 2025/26 (current) marketing year. This was down from 
199,506 bales the previous week. Cumulative sales for 2025/26 have reached 
4.413 million bales, down from 5.055 million bales at this time last year and 
the lowest since 2015/16. Sales have reached 39% of USDA's forecast versus a 
five-year average of 56% for this point in the marketing year. The biggest 
buyer this week was Vietnam at 104,349 bales, followed by Pakistan at 28,018 
bales, China at 26,471 bales, and India at 12,954 bales. The total number may 
have been disappointing relative to what some may have been hoping for, but it 
was not a total letdown either. The fact that China and India were buyers may 
offer some comfort, but the amounts were small relative to Vietnam.

   For Thursday, December 2025 ended at 61.68 cents, down 62 points, while 
March 2026 closed at 63.74 cents, off 4 points. Thursday's estimated volume was 
35,679 contracts.

   Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com




(c) Copyright 2025 DTN, LLC. All rights reserved.