By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst

The cotton market finished Tuesday’s session higher, as speculative buying emerged on news of flooding in India. The northern Madhya Pradesh region and the immediate neighboring areas of Rajasthan have experienced significant rainfall since last Friday.

Totals have varied as high as 10.00-plus inches and this region could receive a similar amount of additional rain by the end of this week. Flooding could be a serious situation for India’s seventh largest producing state. The Madhya Pradesh region is home to some 4.16 thousand hectares of cotton.

Traders are awaiting Thursday’s weekly export sales. Given that current season sales (2021-22) lag last year’s pace, obviously it is important that business begins to increase, with the entirety of the Northern Hemisphere approaching harvest, some countries may taper exports until they are able to assess their own crops.

The latest six- to 10-day forecast from NOAA, valid from Aug. 8-12, calls for below-normal rainfall and above-normal temperatures for Texas. The Delta is looking at above-normal temperatures, while the southeast appears to be above-normal temperatures too. The eight- to 10-day forecast, valid from Aug. 10-16, indicates temperatures for Texas to be normal, but elevated to above-normal for the Panhandle.

The Delta and the Southeast will have above-normal temperatures. Rain-wise, Texas looks to be normal in the Panhandle, but below-normal for West Texas; the Delta and the Southeast are looking at normal rain chances.

For Tuesday, December settled 89.87 cents, up 0.24 cent, March ended at 89.58 cents, plus 0.24 cent and December 2022 ended at 81.23 cents, up 0.29 cent; estimated volume was 20,184 contracts.