Cotton eases; set for weekly decline on lower demand, trade ambiguity

ICE cotton fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session en route to a second weekly decline, pressured by lower demand for the natural fiber and uncertainty over the US-China trade negotiations.

Cotton contracts for December fell 0.20 cent, or 0.31%, at 64.24 cents per lb at 12:55 pm ET. It traded within a range of 63.81 and 64.91 cents a lb, and was on track for about a 1% dip for the week.

"It's a continuation of bad export figures yesterday... We are exporting considerably less cotton than the USDA estimated," said John Bondurant, a trader in Memphis, Tennessee.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its weekly export-sales report showed net sales of 108,100 running bales (RB) for 2019/20 marketing year were down 23% from the previous week and 39% from the prior four-week average, for the period ended Oct. 24.

"There's general hesitancy in the market and people are waiting for a trade deal to come through pretty soon," said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate with INTL FCStone. "There are a lot of conflicting news (on the talks)."

Trade talks are making progress and the United States still aims to sign an initial deal this month, although the phase one agreement remains unfinished and some issues will be pushed to a second pact, a White House official said on Friday.

Total futures market volume fell by 32,671 to 31,568 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 2,482 to 246,481 contracts in the previous session.

Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of Oct 31 totaled 30,972 480-lb bales, up from 25,516 in the previous session.