Cotton prices are posting mixed trade to start the final trade session of the week, with July down 59 points and new crop steady to 6 cents higher. Futures continued to work lower as the recent drop in prices hasn’t seemed to attract much export business according to recent USDA data. Contracts were down 35 to 120 points on the day.

The Thursday morning Export Sales report showed 97,408 RB of upland cotton sold in the week ending on April 25, down 45% from the previous week. New crop sales totaled 34,407 RB, the lowest in 4 weeks. Export shipments in that week dropped to a 14-week low to 179,980 RB.

Monthly export data from Census showed 1.63 million bales of cotton (excluding linters) shipped during March. That was a 3.63% increase over the same month last year, and the largest since June 2022.

ICE certified cotton stocks were up 3,007 bales on the first of May at 186,121 bales. The Cotlook A Index was back down 300 points on May 1 at 85.30 cents/lb. The AWP dropped another 78 points to 60.55. The Seam reported 2,299 bales of cotton sold on Wednesday at an average price of 67.85 cents/lb.

May 24 Cotton  closed at 74.92, down 89 points, currently unchanged

Jul 24 Cotton  closed at 75.62, down 89 points, currently down 59 points

Dec 24 Cotton  closed at 74.18, down 99 points, currently up 1 point