By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent
The cotton market closed lower Thursday on slow volume. With the USDA still in shutdown mode, and fears of how next week’s trade talks might unfold, traders’ anxieties are rising. Typically, in times of uncertainty, markets tend to decline.
For cotton, the lack of virtually any marketing information, such as weekly and exports, as well as basic supply-demand data, is taking a toll upon traders and hedgers alike. No doubt, a wait-and-see attitude is dominating the trade.
China reported cotton imports of 220,000 metric tons for the month of December 2018. That amount was up 118.3% for December-Over-December comparison, and higher than the November 2018’s import levels of 130,000 metric tons. For all of 2018, China brought in some 1.57 million metric tons of cotton.
The obvious hope for the cotton industry is that trade talks unfold well so a huge portion of Chinese imports will include American cotton. However, on Thursday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross indicated the U.S. and China were “miles and miles apart” regarding a negotiated trade deal. For Friday we see a continuance of Thursday’s same laborious trade.
March cotton closed Thursday at 73.14 cents, down 0.38 cent, July was 75.91 cents, off 0.20 cent and December finished at 74.04 cents, down 0.16 cent points. Thursday’s estimated volume was 19,200 contracts traded.
