– Reporting Period 31 July – 13 August 2024 –
The ICE futures Cotton No. 2 have continuously lost ground in the reporting period. The nearest future reached a level that hasn’t been seen since October 2020. The globally uncertain situation has weakened textile demand and consequently material demand as well. Additionally, due to turmoil in Bangladesh, production facilities were hardly able to operate. This has beaten down both demand and prices for cotton. Even though, the prices have recovered somewhat towards the end of the reporting period, the low prices have been increasingly unable to cover the cost for cotton production.
The bullish trend in the current WASDE, in which the production and stock projections were reduced far more than the consumption estimates, have not given a major price boost either.
With the change from the old to the new crop, August has always been a difficult trading month, also characterized by a low density of market participants due to vacation periods.