Global Economy: Export Sales Report Released By The US Department Of Agriculture On Thursday

The export sales report released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday showed that in the week ending February 8, the net export sales of American cotton in the current year increased by 160500 bales, 44% less than the previous week, and 49% less than the average of the previous four weeks. Among them, the net export sales to China increased by 57800 bales. Next year, the export sales of American cotton increased by 7700 bales. The export shipment of American cotton was 276100 bales, an increase of 11% over the previous week and an average increase of 6% over the previous four weeks, of which 119000 bales were exported to China. In the current year, 190100 bales of American cotton were newly sold, and in the next year, 7700 bales of cotton were newly sold.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in its February Global Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimation (WASDE) report that the ending inventory of US cotton in 2023/24 was lower than that of the previous month. The US Department of Agriculture also raised its export estimate by 200000 bales to 12.3 million bales.

ICE data shows that as of February 13, the inventory of ICE deliverable No. 2 cotton futures contracts remained unchanged at 999 bales, compared with 2213 bales on January 12.

Don Shurley, an honorary professor of cotton economy at the University of Georgia, said: "Export sales and shipments have been" unstable ", but the trend in the past 10 weeks is clearly rising. If we expect prices to continue to rise rather than fall, demand/purchase needs to be shown on these higher prices, and exports need to verify this demand. "