Response of U.S. Cotton Export Sales to ICE Cotton Futures Price (Scroll Down for More Discussion)

Discussion
The red line shows daily settlement of nearby ICE cotton futures, in cents per pound.  The blue peaks and valleys reflect weekly net export sales for the 2023/24 marketing year, in thousands of running bales. The graph generally shows the expected demand response to fluctuating futures prices for the 2023 crop.  Generally, as U.S. prices fluctuate higher, export sales (“quantity demanded”) fluctuate lower.  Indeed, during calendar 2023, ICE cotton futures have appeared range bound, appearing supported on the downside by decent foreign demand.  For the week ending April 18, 2023-24 net sales of U.S. cotton for export continued higher, in apparent response to declining prices.