While four of the five soft commodities posted gains in 2023, and over the first nine months of 2024, cotton futures bucked the bullish trends and declined. In 2023, nearby ICE cotton futures posted a 2.84% loss, and over the first three quarters of 2024, they were down 9.12%, settling Q3 at 73.61 cents per pound. In late Q4 2024, cotton futures were lower at under 70 cents per pound.
In my Q3 Barchart article on soft commodities, I noted that, “Cotton prices tend to peak during spring.” At the end of 2024, spring 2025 is right around the corner, and cotton could offer value at the current price level.
