By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

December Cotton ended its Friday session unchanged, despite receiving friendly news. Initially, the export sales, although not as massive in amounts as traders had hoped, saw China as the dominant buyer in the sales and shipment categories. Yet, in the more meaningful supply/demand numbers which followed, the U.S. crop was slashed to 17.06 million bales from USDA’s previous estimate of 18.06 million bales. Oddly, USDA lowered export potential some 600,000 bales, from USDA’s 15.00 million to 14.60 million bales. Most likely this move was a “government hedge” in case China did reduce her buying activity down the road, otherwise US Carryout would have fallen to 6.40 million bales.

For the week, December cotton ended down 0.18 cent, for the month, down 0.35 cent, and thus far for the year the new crop is down 5.55 cents.

Next week, USDA reports will resume their normal schedule with crop condition on Monday and weekly export sales on Thursday. However, defoliation efforts will soon be underway and afterwards, the actual harvest commences.

The National Hurricane Center is plotting a total of six “swirls” out in the Atlantic Basin. Four are labeled as disturbances, but could eventually evolve into something more serious, while two are already named storms, Paulette and Rene. Given the U.S. crop is approaching 50% opening, traders will be mindful of these weather events as to their yield reducing abilities.

For Friday, December cotton closed at 64.81 cents, flat, March ended at 65.78 cents, down 0.04 cent and December 2020 settled at 65.20 cents, down 0.31 cent. Estimated volume was 19,425 contracts.