– Reporting Period 21 Feb – 05 Mar 2024 –
ICE Cotton No. 2 futures initially continued their steep rise. With more than one U.S. dollar, the futures reached a level last seen in September 2022. However, this development primarily referred to the old crop with the March contract. The December future for the new crop, on the other hand, tended to move sideways with only a slight upward trend. Within the last two reporting periods, the price difference between old and new crop widened from 5.67 ct/lb (07.02.2024) to 18.79 ct/lb (28.02.2024) at the time with the largest discrepancy.
At the start of the new month, futures fell again rapidly below one U.S. dollar, with a reduced gap of 14.91 ct/lb (05.04.2024) between March and December futures in 2024.
According to experts, speculative transactions have primarily caused this development of the futures. The physical market and demand have remained rather quiet, not necessarily supporting such a bullish trend. This also applies to the European market.