At the close for Thursday, cotton futures were 3+ cents higher through the old crop contracts setting new highs. At the high March futures were 18 points off the daily 4 cent limit. New crop futures also rallied triple digits, with December now above 81 cents. The US dollar index (March futures contract) traded at the highest level since December 1. The Weekly Export Sales report from USDA showed 286,695 RBs of cotton booked in the week ending Jan 28. That was down 12% on the week and was 17% below sales from the same week last season. Sales to the PRC made up 30% of the total for the week, as China maintains a 35% share of the 12.8m RBs in commitments. The daily Cotton Spot Quotations report showed a large 22,864 bales sold on the upswing, the average price is now 80.35 cents/lb maintaining basis. The Cotlook A index was up another 55 points to 87.45 cents per pound on 02/03. USDA lowered the week’s Adjusted World Price for cotton by 121 points to 66.38 cents/lb.
| Mar 21 Cotton closed at 84.28, up 329 points, |
| May 21 Cotton closed at 85.49, up 316 points |
| Jul 21 Cotton closed at 86.21, up 301 points |
| Dec 21 Cotton closed at 81.07, up 216 points |
--- provided by Brugler Marketing & Management
