Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

To some degree, the cotton market was joined at the hip with the Dow Jones Friday. As the benchmark stock index went up and down, so too did the fiber market. Then, late in the session, as the Dow pared some of its earlier losses, so too did cotton claw back over 1 cent. Of course, another negative for cotton is that farmers are stubbornly holding last year's crop. Thus, with the sharp fall in prices the foreign textile mills are slowing their buying pace to see how low prices might indeed fall.    

From Thursday's export sales we note that cumulative sales for 2022-23 have reached 10.87 million bales, which is down from the 13.66 million of last year, and the lowest level since the 2015-16 season. Sales have reached 97% of the USDA forecast for the marketing year versus a five-year average of 95%.    

Thursday's Commitments of Traders update showed that the managed money funds were net buyers for the week ending March 7th, which reduced their net short to 2,902.    

Next week, the Federal Reserve will meet to decide interest rates. It will be an incredibly important gathering as the central bank must balance its actions between fighting inflation and nursing the banking crisis.    

For the week, May cotton is down 0.35 cent on the week, down 6.20 cents on the month and down 5.62 cents for the year.    

Friday, May 2023 finished at 77.83 cents, down 1.33 cents, July settled at 78.44 cents, down 1.26 cents and December 2023, ended at 79.51 cents, 1.12 cents lower; estimated volume was 36,754 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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