Keith Brown DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst    

The cotton market ended higher Monday amid the hopes that China is fully reopening its borders. Over the weekend, China ended travel restrictions between Hong Kong and internal provinces. The markets are assuming this new policy is the fastest way for China to "get to the other side" of COVID.    

This Thursday, USDA will update its supply and demand tables via its January crop report. Last month saw an increase in the 2022 crop, resulting in higher domestic ending stocks. The world data had a dramatic cut to consumption, thus there was a massive increase in global carryout.    

The U.S. dollar was lower Monday, impacted by the positive potential of China's reopening, plus hopes that the Federal Reserve will be less aggressive with its program to hike interest rates this year. A weaker greenback is supposedly helpful for supporting U.S. exports.    

Crude oil prices jumped about 2% Monday on Monday after China's move to reopen its borders boosted the outlook for fuel demand and overshadowed global recession concerns. Monday's up move is a far cry from last week's action, when crude saw declines not seen since 2016.    

Monday, March 2023 finished at 86.22 cents, up 0.54 cent, July settled at 85.96 cents, up 0.43 cent and December 2023 ended at 83.14 cents, 0.51 cent higher; estimated volume was 44,823 contracts.    

Keith Brown can be reached at commodityconsults@gmail.com 

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