The CEPEA/ESALQ Index for payment in 8 days for cotton type 41-4, which includes freight to São Paulo grew 5.66 per cent in August and export parity rose 6.1 per cent in the month, pushed up by the high dollar. So, while the dollar rose 6.32 per cent against the Brazilian Real, Brazilian cotton sellers increased closure of export contracts in August, motivated by the strong dollar. According to a CEPEA report, Brazilian cotton remained competitive in the global market at the same time. “Export trades led to limited cotton availability in the domestic market, which was already down due to harvesting delays, leading in turn to hike in domestic prices,” it added. In August, the CEPEA/ESALQ Index was 1.5 per cent up compared to export parity, but the average in dollar, cash payment, was 13.35 per cent down at $0.6219 per pound. This compares to the average of Cotlook A Index at $0.7177 per pound and 4.53 per cent lower than the first contract at ICE Futures at $0.6514 per pound. “This led to the competitiveness of Brazilian cotton increasing in the international market,” the Brazilian agency informed.
