Cotton Falls Further on Friday

Group 1 - Cotton futures experienced losses of 40 to 70 points in the front months, with March down 211 points this week [1] - Speculative traders increased their net short position in cotton futures and options by 6,717 contracts, bringing the total to 71,746 contracts net short [1] - Export commitments for cotton are at 7.8 million RB as of January 29, which is 12% below last year and represents 68% of the USDA forecast, falling short of the 86% average [2] Group 2 - The Thursday online auction from The Seam reported sales averaging 54 cents per pound on 592 bales [3] - The Cotlook A Index increased by 5 points to 73.20 cents on February 5 [3] - ICE certified cotton stocks rose by 27,344 bales to a total of 74,997 bales as of February 5 [3]