Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

Amid a sea of red (negative) prices, the cotton market finished in the green (positive) column. The main reason for the strong day was the weekly export sales from USDA. In addition, the energies were all positive, thus lending a peripheral helping hand.    

Friday's export sales reflected another marketing-year high in business. It marked the second time in only three weeks that such a surge happened. Moreover, to the surprise of many, Turkey was a respectable buyer. Vietnam was the primary purchaser.    

The CFTC's will resume its weekly commitment of traders data Friday. That information has been offline for three weeks due to a cyberattack on a major reporting clearing firm. From its website, we think we understand the watchdog will publish the missing data in phases.    

There were zero deliveries seen against spot March. Its notice period runs through March 9.    

For the week, we note that May Cotton is up 3.40 cents, but off 2.05 cents for the month, and up 1.45 cents on the year.    

Friday, May 2023 finished at 84.90 cents, plus 2.74 cents, July settled at 85.08 cents, up 2.45 cents, and December 2023 ended at 84.32 cents, 2.10 cents higher; estimated volume was 38,132 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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