By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market closed out Tuesday with the old crop contracts sharply lower and the new crop months slightly lower. Clearly, the bearish volatility of the outside markets is being caused by the possibility of a Ukrainian-Russian ceasefire, and that somewhat spilled over to the old crop cotton.

However, the old crop is also awaiting Thursday’s exports-sales report for possible direction. On the other hand, the new crop is anticipating USDA 2022 planting intentions, which is also on Thursday.

For that Thursday’s report, the current industry estimate averages 12.3 million acres. Such a number would be below USDA’s Ag Forum estimate of 12.7 million, but up from the 2021 number of 11.2 million last year.

Weather-wise, the one- to five-day forecast calls for virtually no rain for West Texas, but some rain is due for the Panhandle and Oklahoma. The six- to 10-day outlook suggests improving opportunities for above-normal rainfall chances.

Tuesday, May cotton settled at 136.81 cents, down 2.26 cents, July closed at 133.25 cents, down 2.06 cents and December finished at 111.04 cents, 0.26 cent lower; estimated volume was 42,448 contracts.