By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent 

December cotton ended the month of August with a whimper. However, for the balance of the month, the market was under a lot of pressure. In fact, December cotton ended the month down 5.01 cents. A big reason for that sharply lower settlement was the unresolved U.S.-China trade war, as well as USDA jacking up the size of the 2019 crop via its supply-demand report to 22.50 million bales. That level represents a 14-year high of production.

Due to the Labor Day holiday, Monday’s crop condition report and Thursday’s weekly sales and exports will be pushed back by one day. USDA next supply-demand report will be issued on September 12. Traders are anticipating a reduction to the U.S. crop, but also a retreat in exports as well. Thus, ending stocks may stay pretty much the same.

Traders are still eyeing Hurricane Dorian as a possible supply disruption. As of this writing, it is 50/50 as to whether the storm runs across Florida, emerging into the Gulf of Mexico for new life or hooks northward and spills out over the Georgia cotton crop.

Friday, December cotton settled 58.83 cents, down 0.17 cent, March closed at 59.44 cents, off 0.21 cent and December 2020 ended at 62.28 cents up 0.02 cent. Friday’s estimated volume was 17,900 contracts.