NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures eased off a one-week high on Thursday on favourable weather conditions and weekly data showing lower export sales, as the market awaits a federal acreage report due on June 30.
Cotton contracts for December fell 0.28 cents, or 0.3%, to 86.66 cents per lb by 11:44 a.m. EDT (1544 GMT), having risen to their highest since June 16 at 87.00 cents on Wednesday.
“There are good rains coming over the next 7-10 days” which are weighing on the cotton and grains markets, said Jon Marcus, president of Lakefront Futures and Options brokerage in Chicago, adding that the weekly export sales report was “lacklustre”.
“The market is waiting for the final acreage numbers, and it seems like (it) is not anticipating a huge increase in acreage, but a drop in acres.”
The US Department of Agriculture’s weekly export sales report showed net sales of 74,700 running bales for the 2020/2021 marketing year, down 33% from the previous week and 48% from the prior 4-week average.
“The weather has become a part of the market and that’s what caused the rally yesterday, but we’ve got a pretty strong resistance area on the daily chart,” said Jack Scoville, vice president at Chicago-based Price Futures Group.
US corn, soybean and wheat futures fell, pressured by rain in key growing areas of the US Midwest and forecasts for more showers that will shepherd crops through critical development stages.
Total futures market volume fell by 8,499 to 10,466 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 291 to 208,157 contracts in the previous session.
Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of June 23 totalled 165,925 480-lb bales, unchanged from 165,925 in the previous session.
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