ICE cotton futures settled lower on Friday, extending falls for a second week, as rains across West Texas boost favourable planting conditions for the natural fibre. The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures US July settled down 0.62 cent, or 0.79 percent, at 77.7 cents per lb. It traded within a range of 77.27 and 78.44 cents a lb.
"Rains across West Texas are good. This is positive for production but less so for (cotton) prices," said Louis Rose, director of research and analytics at Tennessee-based Rose Commodity Group. "We had a strong move up yesterday... There is less inclination to go ahead and get longer ahead of the weekend," Rose added.
Prices shed 0.7% in the week, extending declines for a second straight week. However, the outlook for cotton prices remain bullish, according to analysts. "US prices are still attractive to overseas buyers and the more we keep adding to the sales tally, the greater the likelihood of July getting squeezed," British merchant Plexus Cotton said in a research note.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said trade talks with China are going "very well", as the world's two largest economies seek to end talks with a trade agreement to defuse tensions. Total futures market volume fell by 2,869 to 21,544 lots. Data showed total open interest fell 785 to 211,834 contracts in the previous session. Certificated cotton stocks deliverable as of April 25 totalled 64,241 480-lb bales, up from 62,657 in the previous session.