By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market essentially seesawed up and down against Monday’s settlement but managed a positive close. Monday’s July supply and demand report was seen as neutral to slightly bearish, but traders sloughed it off, wanting to see how the crop develops into the month of August.

To date, it’s thought the crop looks great with a condition rating of 56% good to excellent. However, seasonally, August is a very pivotal month for the production of cotton.

Thursday USDA will issue its weekly export sales. Although new-crop sales are historically lagging, the notion of new import quotas being considered by China, plus the decline in global stocks, indicates demand may be strong for some time.

The five-day forecast has little rain for West Texas, but the Delta and Southeast will likely see better chances. The six- to 10- and the eight- to 14-day outlooks indicate below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation across the Cotton Belt. At this stage much of that weather is potentially detrimental to the crop.

Tuesday, December settled at 88.46 cents, up 0.30 cent, March ended at 88.04 cents, up 0.19 cent and December 2022 closed at 79.65 cents, up 0.07 cent; estimated volume was 23,918 contracts.