Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market was materially lower Friday as continued grower fixations, along with speculative selling, sent prices lower. Still, that action put spot March slightly higher on the week, helped by very positive export-sales numbers on Thursday. Next week commences a new month, with the change in calendar, traders will see during the month options expiration for the March Contract, new export-sales data and fresh supply-demand updates.    

Friday afternoon, the CFTC will issue its weekly commitment of traders report. Last week, the managed-funds showed up as being net short. It was the first time since 2020 they have been in that position. Of course, with cotton's recent rise, the results ought to be interesting.    

Next week, traders will be keying on the Federal Reserve meeting this Wednesday. It is expected that the central bank will hike interest rates 25 basis points. Nonetheless, it is rarely positive when rates are increased, as such action typically strengthens the U.S. dollar and thus weakens the potential for exports.    

Crude oil reversed from its earlier gains as the EU could not agree on a price cap for Russian crude, plus it was posted that oil loadings from Russia's Baltic ports are set to rise by 50% this month from December. It is also noted that OPEC will meet next week to review production levels. As of now no change to its current output is anticipated.    

For the week, spot March is up a mere 0.19 cent, it is up 3.52 cents on the month and year, respectively.    

Friday, March 2023 finished at 86.89 cents, minus 0.61 cent, July settled at 87.80 cents, down 0.54 cent and December 2023 ended at 85.58 cents, 0.34 cent lower; estimated volume was 20,962 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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