Cotton futures hit six-month low on excess supply

FE Team | Published: October 01, 2025 23:25:47

ICE cotton futures fell more than 1 per cent to a six-month low on Wednesday, hurt by concerns of excess supply, while weaker sentiment from the grains market also spilled into the natural fiber, reports Reuters.
Cotton contracts for December fell 0.96 cents, or 1.4%, to 64.81 cents per lb at 10:44 a.m. ET (1444 GMT), its lowest level since April 4.
"The market is lower on expectations of larger crops in China, Brazil and the US (Also), the Chicago grain markets are lower and cotton tends to follow them often," said Rogers Varner, president of Varner Brokerage.
Chicago soybean, corn and wheat futures extended losses to new multi-week lows, with soybeans dropping below the psychological $10 threshold, after US grain data underscored ample supply at a time of stalled Chinese demand.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in a weekly crop progress report on Monday said 16% of the cotton was harvested in the week ended September 28, higher than 12% in the week prior and in line with 5-year average.
Markets are now awaiting a weekly export sales report from the USDA on Thursday to gauge demand prospects for cotton.
Demand for cotton was okay until China withdrew from the US markets, pushing traders to find other markets and demand from other countries is not very good at the moment, said Varner.
Data showed on Friday ICE cotton speculators increased their net short position on the commodity by 3,304 contracts to 68,812 in theweek to September 23.