Overview
- Cotton futures kept slight midday gains of about 15 to 17 points after an early rally of roughly 45 to 50 points, with March near 64 cents as sales tallied 148,396 RB for the week of Nov. 20 and CFTC data showed specs trimmed the net short to 58,243 contracts.
- Wheat traded lower by 6 to 9 cents even as export inspections rose to 488,025 MT for the week ending Dec. 11, while catch‑up export sales were a softer 361,715 MT for the week of Nov. 20.
- Corn slipped 2 to 3 cents with inspections at 1.589 MMT and a private sale of 150,320 MT to unknown destinations reported, as backlogged data showed 1.84 MMT in sales for the week of Nov. 20 and earlier CFTC figures indicated managed money turned net long.
- Soybeans were down 5 to 7 cents at midday after USDA confirmed 136,000 MT sold to China, inspections reached 795,661 MT, and NOPA members reported a record November crush of 216.04 million bushels with soybean oil stocks rising.
- USDA’s latest cotton adjustments trimmed 2025/26 global production and mill use slightly with only a marginal uptick in ending stocks, while major grain and cotton contracts ended last week at bearish weekly lows that encouraged fresh short positioning.