Cotton futures ended the Thursday trade session with contracts 10 to 32 points lower at the close. The outside markets were negative factors, with the US dollar index up another 401 points and crude oil back down $0.79/barrel.

Export Sales data tallied upland cotton bookings improving to 194,895 RB for 2024/25, a 3-week high. That was up 27.39% from last week. A total of 42,400 RB was sold to Vietnam, with 37,000 RB to Pakistan. Sales for 2025/26 were 6,864 RB. Shipments were not an improvement, down to a 5-week low of 128,573 RB and 6.43% below last week. A total of 25,500 RB was to Pakistan, with 23,800 RB to Vietnam. 

The Seam reported 2,299 bales of online sales on December 18 at an average price of 63.46 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were unchanged on Wednesday, at 20,113 bales of certified stocks. The Cotlook A Index was down 40 points on 12/18 at 78.85 cents/lb. The USDA Adjusted World Price (AWP) was cut by another 113 points on Thursday to 55.09 cents/lb. 

Mar 25 Cotton  closed at 67.91, down 17 points,

May 25 Cotton  closed at 69.03, down 18 points,

Jul 25 Cotton  closed at 69.98, down 25 points