Cotton futures settled the Thursday session with contracts down the 3 cent limit in the front months, with other contracts down 260 to 284 points. Crude oil futures were $5.09/barrel lower, as the US dollar index was down $1.821 on the day.

President Trump announced a large set of reciprocal tariffs on Wednesday, with Pakistan at 29%, Vietnam at 46%, and China at 34% (54% including the initial set of tariffs from earlier this year). Baseline tariffs of 10% were put on Turkey. They go into effect on April 9, with the baseline on April 5. There have been no announcements on retaliatory tariffs.

Export Sales data showed a total of 129,102 RB in the week ending on March 27, which was a 3-week high. Vietnam was the top buyer of 88,600 RB, with Pakistan buying 21,000 RB and net reductions of 21,300 RB for China. Shipments were tallied at 93,838 RB, slightly above the previous week. Vietnam was the destination for 120,000 RB, with 76,700 RB headed to Turkey and 63,600 RB to Pakistan. 

Cotton export (excluding linters) in February totaled 1.395 million bales ,which was down 9.1% from last year, but up 34.46% from January. 

The Seam showed 4,072 bales in online sales on Wednesday at an average price of 65.41 cents/lb. The Cotlook A Index was back up 125 points on April 2 at 80.10 cents/lb. ICE cotton stocks were unchanged on 4/2, with the current level of certified stocks at 14,488 bales. USDA’s Adjusted World Price (AWP) was back up 158 points on Thursday afternoon to 55.22 cents/lb.

May 25 Cotton  closed at 64.8, down 300 points,

Jul 25 Cotton  closed at 65.71, down 300 points,

Dec 25 Cotton  closed at 67.55, down 284 points