By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

After posting a 4.29-cent high/low range, the cotton market settled out with spot December and March slightly lower, while the deferred months were slightly higher. Volume Monday paled to that of recent days.

Traders started the U.S. day session with the news that China’s third quarter GDP, and its industrial production were below analysts’ expectations. Additionally, Friday’s CFTC traders update indicated that the managed-money funds had liquidated some 10% of their net long holdings.

Monday afternoon, USDA will report on the harvest progress of the 2021 Crop. As of last week, 72% of the crop had “bolls open” versus the five-year average of 82%. Actual gathered cotton was pegged at 20% versus the five-year average of 25%.

From last week’s export-sales data, we note that cumulative sales for 2021-22 have reached 7.617 million bales, down from 8.233 million a year ago and below the five-year average of 7.844 million. Percentagewise, sales have reached 52% of the USDA’s forecast for current marketing year versus a five-year average of 55%.

For Monday, December settled at 107.04 cents, down 0.29 cent, March ended at 104.95 cents, down 0.05 cent and December 2022 ended at 90.38 cents, 0.08 cent higher; estimated volume was 26,936 contracts.