ICE cotton weakens as dollar rebound pressures demand

ICE’s most active December 2025 contract settled at 67.32 cents per pound (0.453 kg), down 0.69 cent (1 per cent). Other active month contracts ended with losses ranging from 27 to 62 cents. Sideways trading persisted, with no significant movement over the past three months.

The dollar rebounded against major currencies after Fed Chair Powell reinforced expectations of a September rate cut, making dollar-priced commodities costlier abroad.

Trading volume stood at 29,805 contracts, compared with 36,086 on Friday and a daily average of 29,081 last week. The CFTC report for the week ending August 19 showed speculators reduced net short positions by 3,788 contracts to 58,189. ICE deliverable stocks remained unchanged at 15,474 bales on August 22.

Analysts noted that the market has traded sideways for three months, with the next potential catalyst being this week’s export sales report, due Thursday.

China’s NDRC announced applications for 200,000 tons of preferential tariff-rate cotton import quota (processing trade, outside the 2025 tariff quota), to be issued on a contract basis. China’s cotton imports during January–July 2025 totalled 520,000 tons, down 74.2 per cent year-on-year, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

Brazil’s cotton exports, according to Secex, reached 58,352.83 tons in the first four weeks of August, with a daily average of 3,647.05 tons—down 28 per cent year-on-year from 5,080.22 tons in August 2024.

The USDA’s crop progress report for the week ending August 24 rated 54 per cent of the crop good/excellent, compared with 55 per cent last week and 40 per cent last year.

As of the latest trade, ICE cotton for December 2025 stood at 67.42 cents per pound (up 0.10 cent). Cash cotton was at 64.74 cents (down 0.44 cent), the October 2025 contract at 65.99 cents (down 0.44 cent), the March 2026 contract at 69.24 cents (up 0.12 cent), the May 2026 contract at 70.56 cents (up 0.11 cent), and the July 2026 contract at 71.24 cents (up 0.04 cent). A few contracts remained unchanged from previous closing levels, with no trading recorded today.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)