Insight Focus
The No.11 raw sugar futures traded lower over the past week. Producers have. Speculators have closed out 17.2k lots of long positions. Cotton futures are trading lower after a strong rally earlier in the year.
New York No.11 Raw Sugar Futures
The No.11 raw sugar futures started the week at 14.7c/lb and moved lower from here onwards, hitting lows of 13.9c/lb on Thursday before eventually settling at 14c/lb on Friday.
On the commercial side, end-users have opened 5.3k lots of longs while producers have reduced their shorts by 5.4k lots.
No.11 Commitment of Traders Report (May 26, 2026)
Speculators have closed out 17.2k lots of longs and have extended their short position by 2.6k lots.
The net-speculative position now stands at -111,538 lots.
No.11 & No.5 Open interest
Both the No.11 forward futures curve and the No.5 forward futures curve have moved lower across the board.
White Premium (Arbitrage)
The Q/N white premium stared the week at USD 118.3/tonne and closed higher at USD 128.2/tonne on Friday.
Cotton Futures
Cotton futures are currently sitting around 77 c/lb, having cooled off after a strong rally earlier in the year where prices jumped from about 61 c/lb in March to nearly 88 c/lb by mid-May, a move of roughly 40–45%. Since then, the market has lost some momentum and is now stabilising in the mid-to-high 70s.
The main talking point today is India stepping in to remove all import duties on cotton from June through late October, a move designed to ease tight domestic supply and reduce costs for its textile industry, which in turn supports global demand.
Fundamentally, the picture still leans supportive: global cotton consumption is expected to slightly outpace production (around 26.1 vs 25.45 million tonnes), leaving an approximately 657,000-ton deficit, largely driven by steady demand from key Asian markets like India, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.
That said, recent export data suggests demand is steady rather than surging, meaning the earlier rally wasn’t just about fundamentals, it was also helped by external factors like weather concerns and higher oil prices, which made synthetic fibres less attractive and pushed buyers towards cotton. Overall, while the market has pulled back, the underlying supply demand balance remains tight enough to keep prices relatively well supported.
For a more detailed view of the sugar futures and market data, please refer to the appendix below.
No.11 (Raw Sugar) Appendix
No.5 (White Sugar) Appendix
White Premium Appendix
