Cotton futures looked to recover over the past couple of sessions after pushing to fresh contract lows this week. March cotton traded moderately higher for a second day on Thursday, with prices hovering around 63.50 cents a pound. Futures posted a fresh contract low of 63.10 on Tuesday.

The CFTC is still in catch-up mode with the Commitment of Traders data. During the week ending Dec. 2, money managers were net buyers of 733 cotton futures and options contracts. Funds have covered a substantial amount of short contracts since mid-October.

Despite the speculative buying, strong commercial selling has been pressuring futures. Commercial traders were net sellers of 2,865 contracts during the most recent data period. Large commercial selling has likely been a result of companies offsetting purchases from producers, which has outweighed speculative buying and sending prices to fresh contract lows.

Additionally, the lack of export sales activity has left the U.S. market with an influx of supplies, as lower prices have been unable to spur bargain buying among importers. Chinese demand has been limited, with large exports to Vietnam the only positive factor so far.

The latest Chinese customs data showed that the country imported 120,000 metric tons in November, which was up year-over-year. However, year-to-date imports are running 64 percent behind last year and the slowest pace since the 2016/17 season.

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PAST PERFORMANCE IS NOT INDICATIVE OF FUTURE RESULTS. FUTURES TRADING INVOLVES SUBSTANTIAL RISK AND IS NOT SUITABLE FOR ALL INVESTORS.