EUR/US$: 1.1534
Cotton Face Weakness on Thursday
Barchart: Cotton futures posted modest losses of 0.41 to 0.90 cents across most contracts on Thursday. Crude oil fell $2.06 a barrel, with the dollar index down slightly. The weekly US export sales report showed 778,939 bales carried over from the 2025/26 marketing year in the week ending 8/6, plus 126,050 new sales; new shipments totaled 208,374 bales, led by Vietnam (60,800) and Pakistan (13,900).
Source: Barchart
Calcot Market Comment – August 13, 2026
Calcot: Cotton futures closed 0.37 to 0.90 cents lower Thursday, the largest losses in nearly a month, though still considered moderate. December settled at 83.50 cents, down 0.88, its third lower close in the last four sessions for a net loss of 0.90 cents; while the pullback hasn't been large, the shift in momentum has unsettled the bulls (those betting on higher prices). Volume was 56,288 contracts. The S&P set new all-time highs, both intraday and at the close, with all three major stock indexes finishing higher even as most other markets had a down day. Open interest rose for a ninth straight session to 351,249 contracts, the second-highest level in cotton's history behind the all-time high set in February. China's state reserve completed its 19th consecutive sold-out auction, moving about 8,009 tonnes and taking the 19-day cumulative total to roughly 670,200 bales, split about 49% US, 19% Brazilian and 32% Xinjiang cotton.
Source: Calcot
USDA Weekly Export Sales – Cotton (Week Ending August 6, 2026)
USDA Weekly Export Sales: Net sales of upland cotton for the new 2026/27 marketing year, which began August 1, totaled 905,000 bales, led by Vietnam (222,500), Pakistan (164,200), Bangladesh (81,100), Mexico (67,300) and India (67,200). A further 778,900 bales in sales were carried over from the 2025/26 marketing year, which ended July 31. Exports for the final days of the old season (through July 31) totaled 67,900 bales, nudging cumulative 2025/26 exports to 11,198,500 bales, slightly ahead of the prior year's 11,191,200. Exports for August 1-6, the first days of the new season, totaled 140,500 bales, led by Vietnam (60,800), Pakistan (13,900), China (12,700), India (12,500) and Mexico (10,800). Pima sales for 2026/27 totaled 50,600 bales.
Source: USDA FAS
Texas Cotton's Critical Window Is Closing Quickly
Farm Progress (Kara Bishop, Plains Cotton Growers): Across the Texas High Plains, the 2026 cotton crop is increasingly determined by a single factor: access to water. Weeks of intense heat and limited rainfall have pushed dryland fields to the edge just as the crop enters a critical growth stage, while irrigated fields nearby continue to hold good yield potential, sometimes only a county road apart. Scattered rain in late July and early August brought brief relief in some areas, but crop water demand quickly absorbed it, and the window for rainfall to still make a difference on dryland acres is closing fast. The best-looking cotton is generally south of Lubbock and in areas that caught earlier, more consistent rain, while conditions deteriorate sharply moving north toward Petersburg and Plainview, where dryland fields that established well early in the season are now short and already blooming out the top. Even irrigated producers face tough tradeoffs: some are shifting water from lower-potential fields or pivots to those with better prospects, and a few Panhandle growers have considered moving irrigation away from stressed corn toward cotton with more yield potential left to protect.
Source: Farm Progress
Gap Reaches 100% Sustainable Cotton Sourcing in 2025
ESG News: Gap Inc. sourced 100% of its cotton from sustainable sources in fiscal 2025 (year ended January 31), up from 98% a year earlier, according to its 2025 Impact Report, while lifting recycled-polyester use to 65%, comfortably above its 45% target. The company also cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions 70% from a 2017 baseline (slightly below the 74% reported in 2024) and Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services by 20% since 2017, while renewable electricity use slipped to 46%, leaving a gap to close before its 2030 target of 100% renewable power. On operations, Gap replaced diesel-powered shunt trucks with electric models at four distribution centers, saving over 31,000 gallons of diesel, and plans to extend the switch to its remaining campuses in 2026; it also replenished 39% of total freshwater withdrawals across its supply chain, up from 14% in 2024, against a 2030 goal of 100%. Looking ahead, Gap says it wants to double its use of traceable US-grown cotton, tracked through the TextileGenesis platform.
Source: ESG News