By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

After being locked sideways all week, the cotton market posted a sharply higher finish Friday. News that China had issued new import quotas, as well as confirmation of an extended La Nina condition this summer from NOAA, ran the market higher. For the most part, the main buyers were speculators.

Friday afternoon, the CFTC will update the stance of various speculators. The most watched-group are the managed-money index funds. At last count there were net long some 77,500 contracts.

The new crop market continues to anticipate the Prospective Plantings report on March 31. Tabulators are gathering that data now. Already there have been private surveys which have shown increased acres for 2022, but given the potential adverse weather and the higher input costs, acres may be not as great as initially thought.

Friday, May cotton settled at 121.03 cents, up 4.17 cents, July ended at 116.79 cents, up 3.79 cents and December finished at 104.24 cents, 2.80 cents higher; estimated volume was 32,972 contracts.