Cotton price action is trading with gains of 37 to 44 points on Monday morning. Futures ended the Friday session with losses of 5 to 30 points, as December was down 104 on the week. Crude oil is up $2.10 /barrel at $68.67, with the US dollar index $0.233 higher to $97.555.
The monthly update to the USDA balance sheets showed a 300,000 bale hike to US cotton exports at 11.8 million bales. That tightened the US stocks by the same amount to 4.1 million bales. For new crop, production offset that carryover drop, with a 600,000 bale increase on the larger acreage total to 8.66 million harvested acres and 14.6 million bales of production. Yield was trimmed by 11 lbs/ac. Still the increase in supply caused the projected carryout to be up 300,000 bales to 4.6 million.
