Cotton prices have been stuck in the 81- to 84-cent range over the last few weeks and seem content there. Expectation of that changing is hard to predict today.
“This is just my opinion,” said Darren Newton, Southwest Cotton Buyer for Viterra USA Agriculture, LLC. “It could take some time to get deeper into planting, new crop supply and the situation in West Texas to play out before the price may respond.” In terms of exports, 144,000 units sold this week, which is not as good as prior weeks but still a decent amount sold for this time of year, according to Newton.
“We shipped 335,000 units, which was a great shipment, and that needs to continue as we finish off the crop year over the next 15 to 16 weeks,” he added.
Overall, Newton said basis today for old crop has weakened with the May/July spread moving to even and inverting this week. Currently new crop basis seems to be bid about like last year and will move from that based on each regions crop size and quality expectations. “The market today seems pretty consistent to what we saw last year,” he added.