ICE cotton slips as US dollar rises, export sales disappoint

ICE’s most active December 2025 contract settled at 67.25 cents per pound (0.453 kg), down 0.25 cent. The contract touched 67.16 cents per pound during intraday trading—its lowest level since July 9, 2025. Other contracts settled 8 to 29 points lower. Only the three most distant contracts settled with a gain of 1 point.

The US dollar strengthened on a monthly basis for the first time in 2025, supported by easing trade tensions and improving economic data. It hit a two-month high on Thursday after a 1 per cent gain the previous day, making US commodities like cotton more expensive for foreign buyers.

ICE trading volume on July 31 was 30,846 contracts, almost identical to the previous day’s volume of 30,573 contracts. ICE warehouse stocks of deliverable No. 2 cotton stood at 21,617 bales as of July 30, unchanged from the previous day.

The USDA’s weekly export sales report showed net upland cotton sales of 39,100 bales for 2024–25—a sharp drop from the previous week, though still above the average of the prior four weeks. For 2025–26, export sales rose by 71,700 bales, showing moderate improvement in forward bookings.

According to market experts, while new crop sales showed improvement, they were still not strong enough to boost sentiment.

In related markets, soybean futures on the CBOT dropped to their lowest level since April, pressured by favourable US crop weather and an abundance of global supply.

As of now, ICE cotton for December 2025 was trading at 66.88 cents per pound (down 0.37 cent); cash cotton at 64.36 cents (down 0.29 cent); the October 2025 contract at 65.34 cents (down 0.27 cent); the March 2026 contract at 68.25 cents (down 0.35 cent); the May 2026 contract at 69.40 cents (down 0.34 cent); and the July 2026 contract at 70.29 cents (down 0.28 cent). A few contracts remained at their previous closing levels, with no trading recorded today.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (KUL)