Yesterday, the ICE December cotton contract settled at 68.25 cents per pound (0.453 kg), up 0.17 cent, supported by a weaker dollar index.

The dollar index fell by around 1.2 per cent following poor US payroll data, making cotton purchases cheaper for foreign buyers.

Trading volume yesterday was 22,869 contracts, compared to 33,703 contracts the previous day. Open interest dropped for the first time in 22 sessions, starting today at 230,272 contracts, down by 1,075, possibly due to speculators taking profits on their record short positions. Speculators have been net short for 14 consecutive weeks.

The USDA’s agricultural drought report indicated that as of July 30, 11 per cent of US cotton-producing areas were affected by drought, up from 10 per cent the previous week.

ICE inventory for deliverable No. 2 cotton futures contracts was 19,343 bales as of August 1, down from 26,763 bales the previous day. The positivity in cotton prices was largely due to technical factors and support from a weaker dollar, despite ample supply and sluggish demand globally.

On Friday, ICE cotton for December 2024 settled at 68.25 cents per pound (up 0.17 cent). Cash cotton settled at 62.68 cents (up 0.30 cents), the October contract at 67.18 cents (up 0.30 cents), the March 2025 contract at 69.87 cents per pound (up 0.17 cents), the May 2025 contract at 71.14 cents (up 0.16 cents), and the July 2025 contract at 72.11 cents (up 0.15 cents).

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KUL)