ICE cotton eases as strong dollar offsets healthy weekly exports
ICE cotton futures slipped on Thursday as a stronger dollar and downbeat sentiment across wider markets outweighed relatively healthy U.S. weekly export figures.
The most active first-month July cotton contract fell 0.15 cents, or 0.2%, to 80.61 cents per lb by 1111 EDT (1511 GMT).
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) report showed net sales of 246,800 running bales (RB) of cotton for 2022/2023, up 7% from the previous week and 56% from the prior 4-week average.
However, exports of 331,000 RB were down 20% from the previous week and 8% from the prior 4-week average.
The report came in pretty solid and steady on the sales side, although there were a few cancellations, including to Turkey, said Bailey Thomen, cotton risk management associate at StoneX Group.
However, "it seems like we have a risk-off day across a lot of the external markets today and cotton was trading mostly sideways," with some selling in cotton as traders possibly exiting positions ahead of the WASDE report.
The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) from the USDA is scheduled for release on May 12.
Also pressuring cotton by making it more expensive, especially for overseas buyers, the dollar index advanced 0.5%
Further weighing on sentiment, was a retreat on Wall Street.
Chicago grain futures were also trading in negative territory with soybean futures hitting a one-week low on rapid U.S. planting progress.