Reporting Period 15 December – 11 January 2023
Over the turn of the year, the ICE Cotton No. 2 futures recorded a rather fluctuating course with smaller and larger outliers. The nearest futures remained in a range between 80 and 90 ct/lb, so that it could almost be called a sideways movement. The market seems to be waiting for guidance from the WASDE forecasts as well as data on the current inflation trend in the US, both published on Thursday.
Against a gloomy macroeconomic backdrop of high inflation, rising infection figures following the end of the zero covid policy in China and the consequences for the country’s economy, the ongoing war in the Ukraine, and the energy crisis in Europe, cotton demand remained low during the period under review. Marked by the decelerating turn of the year certainly too, the development was rather influenced by speculative transactions than by economic impulses.
The European market remained equally quiet, with a wait-and-see attitude prevailing in view of the aforementioned uncertainty factors. The dollar remained stable against the euro during the reporting period.
Bremen, January 12, 2023