Cotton Futures Steady

December New York Cotton is trading at 68.05, up 0.01 cents/lb. March New York Cotton is trading at 68.41, up 0.09 cents/lb. Cotton futures are trading steady Friday morning. The USDA reported on Thursday that cotton export sales for the current marketing year as of August 18th are now 36.9 percent of the agency forecast versus the five year average of 40.7 percent. This week the USDA representative in Turkey estimated cotton production to be up 20 percent from a year ago. The agency attaché said Turkish production may be near 700,000 tonnes, about 3.2 million bales. Turkish cotton use is about 1.47 million tonnes. Imports of cotton from the U.S. have a 3 percent anti-dumping duty attached to them that began in April.