Cotton futures began the day being bid on the electronic exchange, trading 10-15 higher throughout the pre-opening. An extension of yesterday's late buying and also strength again in the grain complex (weekend freeze threats throughout the mid west and the delta).
The outcry session opened higher, and pushed as much as 20 higher in the May before running out of steam. Locals turned good sellers early, realizing that there may be some spec weakness under the 53.00 area, and prices soon ran down beneath 53.00 but were nonetheless well supported at these levels.
Some more weakness was noted in the spreads, with the May/July spreads again under pressure, widening early beyond 150 and out to a maximum of 164 points on the screen late in the session.
It appears that there will not be a strong taker on the May as there was for the March, thanks in part to a lack of heavily discounted cotton on the board, as well as more free stocks currently available after large recent equity redemptions. Prices closed the day and the week near their daily lows at 52.95 on May. Estimated volume for the day was decent at 22,000 lots.
This morning's US export sales and shipments were again over expectations with China once again at the front of the line for US cotton. New sales of 394,600 combined Upland and Pima bales included a whopping 206,300 bales going to China. Shipments were again higher, with the recent trend picking up considerably.
Shipmentsof 317,700 running bales are still behind the average needed to make the USDA forecast of 14.0 million bales, but they are heading in the right direction. NYBOT closed on Friday 6th April to commemorate and observe the Easter holiday. ECOM offices will be closed in the US, with both the exchange and ECOM USA Inc resuming business sual on Monday morning.
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.jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "UBM China (Shanghai)")
-Ltd..jpg?tr=w-120,h-60,c-at_max,cm-pad_resize,bg-ffffff "Thermore (Far East) Ltd.")
