By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

Hoping to cure its overbought situation, the cotton market traded sideways to higher Thursday on muted volume. Thursday’s action was quite a contrast to recent sessions when cotton was testing permissible limits and was fueled by huge volumes. Nonetheless, December cotton closed higher Thursday, keeping its bullish trend and its recent extreme vertical move intact.

Weather-wise, it is raining in Georgia at a time when the state’s crop is some 70%-plus bolls open. Growers are not expecting too much lint loss but are worried that the crop will be that much more delayed. The one- to five-day forecast indicates some quarter inch to two inches of rain across the Alabama and Georgia crop. In addition, east Texas and parts of the Delta are also expected to see mostly unwanted rain.

For the record, the October contract expired Thursday at 113.65 cents. While few traders pay that contract any mind, certain technical junkies do take its settlement into account as part of their long-term daily continuation chart. At any rate, starting Friday, the December contract becomes the front month for all technical analysis. With that, heading into Friday’s session, December cotton is up 7.08 cents on the week and plus 5.81 cents for this month.

Internationally, concerns over the Indian crop still persist. After Cyclone Gulab tore across its major agricultural areas, there have been stories and pictures circulating the internet, indicating pretty widespread losses. This has given rise to stronger internal demand and the idea that its exports will be limited. Some traders see India’s exports down about 36% from last year.

For Thursday, December settled at 111.61 cents, up 0.55 cent, March ended at 108.73 cents, up 0.56 cent and December 2022 ended at 88.86 cents, 0.74 cent higher; estimated volume was 48,211 contracts.-