By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market closed out its first week of June on a bullish note. December finished triple-digit higher. Friday’s market drivers were strong sales and exports, surging Chicago grains and a weaker U.S. dollar.

Earlier in the session USDA issued its weekly export sales, which, combining both crops, showed net sales of barely 280,000 bales. In addition, actual shipments outpaced last week’s exports total. The Chicago grains were sharply higher Friday as concerns over a building ridge of high pressure encouraged fresh buying. This action in turn supported cotton.

The U.S. dollar was down despite the fact the jobs data was disappointing. Yet traders felt that, as long as there is measured job growth, the Federal Reserve may postpone any plans it has to hike interest rates.

Having entered the month of June, the market is becoming more focused on 2021 acres. With corn and bean prices having touched eight-year highs, plus the adverse weather, the potential for a meaningful reduction in cotton acres is running high. At last count, USDA has the crop at 12.00 million acres. However, some traders and hedges are looking for a significantly lower number

Friday, July cotton closed at 85.80 cents, up 1.59 cents, December settled 85.88 cents, up 0.84 cent and March 2022 ended 85.73 cents, up 0.71 cent; estimated volume was 48,669 contracts.