January 13, 2013 By: Bloomberg Copyright 2013 Bloomberg.
By Marvin G. Perez and Elizabeth Campbell
Cotton extended a rally to a more than one-week high after the government reported tightening U.S. supplies and increased demand. The U.S. cotton crop totaled 17.01 million bales, 1.4 percent smaller than the December estimate of 17.26 million, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. Exports will be 12.2 million bales in the marketing year that began Aug. 1, up from 11.71 million in the previous 12 months, the USDA said. Unsold supplies at the end of the year will total 4.8 million bales, 11 percent lower than last month’s estimate of 5.4 million bales, the report said.
"The U.S. numbers are supportive definitely," John Flanagan, the president of Flanagan Trading Corp. in Fuquay- Varina, North Carolina, said in a telephone interview. "They wound up reducing ending stocks and increased exports and reduced the crop."
Cotton for March delivery rose 0.6 percent to close at 75.62 cents a pound at 2:31 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching 76.44 cents, the highest since Jan. 2. Prices dropped as much as 1.1 percent after the USDA report was released, as traders weighed shrinking domestic stockpiles against a bigger world crop. (Source: agweb)