Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was able to hang tough amid poor weekly sales numbers. Thursday's amount of 132,000 was off 46% from the prior number. Exports of 332,000 bales were pretty much equal to last week, and thus were supportive. Another peripheral bearish to cotton was the ongoing rally of the U.S. Dollar Index, as it plays out the debt ceiling talks.    

Cumulative rain totals for West Texas have slightly mitigated from last week's amounts. The immediate maps (one- to five-day) still call for up to 2 inches across in the Panhandle, but taper off farther south. The six- to 10- and the eight- to 14-day readily show above-normal chances for precipitation.    

In other weather considerations, there are growing concerns that India is at risk for El Nino adversities this season. Already some local analysts there are calling for the hottest summer in 50ears. In addition, supposedly some two-thirds of China's new crop is off to a poor start as cold and wet conditions seen earlier did delay plantings.    

Thursday, July settled at 86.66 cents, down 0.28 cent and December 2023 ended at 83.72 cents, 0.17 cent lower. Estimated volume was 52,099 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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