By Keith Brown, DTN Contributing Cotton Analyst 

The cotton market finished Friday higher as USDA numbers were below most expectations. The 2020 U.S. crop was pegged at 17.50 million from the June estimate of 19.50 million. Additionally, domestic stocks were lowered 6.70 million, down from the June number of 8.0 million bales. A standout negative was a reduction seen in U.S. exports from June’s 16.0 million to 15.0 million.

Obviously, this month was a direct result of COVID-19. World stocks were lowered from last month’s 104.67 million to Friday’s 102.77 million bales. Into next week, the market will anticipate Monday’s crop condition report for any further increase in deteriorations in the Texas crop. Afterwards, there will be fresh export sales numbers on Thursday. The hope of traders is not to see any forthcoming exports cancellations as the supply/demand data suggests.

For the week, December cotton finished 1.36 cents higher, for the month the new crop is up 3.43 cents and for the year it is down 6.05 cents. However, we should all remember at its April low the December Market was down over 14.00 cents.

December cotton settled at 64.31 cents up 0.42 cent, March ended at 64.83 cents, up 0.34 cent and December 2021 closed at 64.04 cents, up 0.30 cent. Friday’s estimated volume was 19,429 contracts.