Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was materially lower Wednesday, as news suggests China may be in a bigger COVID-19 crack than realized. Besides the incredible amounts of deaths being reported on social media, supposedly China is now exporting crude and diesel. Traders took that latter action as a sign that China's economy may be worsening, and so fuels are not needed. In addition, there have been a lot of producers selling in the new income tax year.    

Some of the recent rains across the U.S. have made their way into West Texas. Supposedly, that precipitation slightly eased some drought conditions there. Still, given last season's generational drought, it will take an expansive amount of rain this winter to recharge the soils for spring planting.    

This week's export sales are delayed until Friday. Traders are not anticipating any sort of dynamic sales given the timeframe. In fact, generally speaking, the last two week's sales netted out to a negative 2,000 bales not sold. China was a huge canceller two week ago.    

The minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting were released Wednesday. Essentially, the text indicated that no FOMC members expect rate cuts in 2023. Financial markets have been pricing in the likelihood of rate increase between 50 to 75 basis points this year. Currently, they are expecting a quarter point rise at the January meeting.    

Wednesday, March 2023 finished at 80.44 cents, down 2.70 cents, July settled at 80.46 cents, down 2.52 cents and December 2023 ended at 78.63 cents, down 2.25 cents; estimated volume was 32,687 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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