– Reporting Period 10 – 23 April 2024 –
The ICE Cotton No. 2 Futures have continued their downward trend of the past weeks. The nearest future contract dropped below the 80 ct/lb mark for the first time since the beginning of the year before recovering somewhat again. The strong decline encouraged demand. Nevertheless, demand remained at a weak level. The current uncertain consumer situation in various economies, which often affects the demand for textile goods, and the quite strong US Dollar caused spinning mills to weigh up orders. Speculating on further dropping prices might have been another motive. In addition, the weather conditions in Texas have been favourable for the cotton fields in recent days: It rained.
The demand of the spinning industry also remained rather weak at the European level. The current global situation and the associated impact on costs make it difficult for the European textile industry to maintain its competitiveness against East Asian textile producers. This also has consequences for cotton traders.