By Keith Brown DTN Cotton Correspondent 

Cotton finished lower as harvest pressure, as well as “China pressure” that weakened the market. To the former, USDA just reported the 2019 Crop is 83% harvested, which suggests, although the actual gathering of the crop is winding down, it also means there is a massive amount of physical cotton yet to be processed, or “gin” being the correct term. Thus, the pipeline is getting choked, which can send prices down.

To the latter, we know President Trump’s “London comments” suggesting a trade deal with China may not happen until after the 2020 election, certainly soured trade sentiment all the more. Although, U.S. sales are running decently strong, the market remains psychologically tied to China.

Two approaching reports the market will focus on will be Thursday’s exports-sales and next Tuesday’s monthly supply-demand report. Each of those events are expected to be supportive to the general tone of the market. Afterwards, the market will settle even deeper into holiday speed with the approaching Christmas holidays.

There were 25 deliveries posted Tuesday against the spot December contract. They were issued by term commodities, but were stopped by SG Americas. Total deliveries have fractionally exceeded 800 contracts. December cotton expires this Friday.

For Tuesday, March Cotton closed at 64.05 cents, down 0.75 cent, July settled at 66.16 cents, down 0.70 cent and December 2020 finished at 66.96 cents, down 0.37 cent. Tuesday’s estimated volume was 35,592 contracts.