Foreign news on March 22, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) cotton futures closed down slightly in relatively light trading on Monday, but strong demand and a weaker U.S. dollar limited the decline.
ICE May cotton futures contract fell 0.06 cents, or 0.07%, to settle at 84.62 cents per pound, and the intraday trading range was 84.17-85.16 cents.
Jack Scoville, vice president of PriceFutures Group in Chicago, said: "The weekly export sales report shows that the demand is good... The demand for commercial buying (mainly exporters and some cotton mills) is strong today."
The export sales report released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) last Thursday showed that the net sales of cotton in 2020/21 were 437,700 bales, a significant increase from the average of the previous week and the previous four weeks. That week, the United States exported 351,900 bales of upland cotton.
The U.S. dollar fell from a four-month high against a basket of currencies on Monday, and U.S. Treasury yields also fell.
But Peter Egli, head of risk management at BritishmerchantPlexusCotton, said: “There is a lack of transactions in the market. Both long and short positions remain on the sidelines, and their positions are still relatively large, especially considering that there is very little US cotton left.”
It takes technical factors or some news developments to stimulate market vitality, he added.
Data released by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday showed that as of the week of March 16, speculators increased their long positions in cotton futures options by 4,259 hands to 65,208 hands.
In addition, after the high-level strategic dialogue between China and the U.S. ended last weekend, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that the two sides maintain dialogue and communication, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation, prevent misunderstandings and misjudgments, avoid conflicts and confrontations, and promote Sino-U.S. relations. Healthy and stable development. Both parties hope to continue high-level strategic communication.
As of March 19, ICE's deliverable No. 2 cotton contract inventory increased to 99,239 bales, compared with 99,706 bales on the previous trading day.
ICE cotton fell slightly, but 
