ICE Cotton Surges on US Output Data, China Interest Rate Decision

On Monday, cotton prices jumped the most allowed by ICE Futures U.S. on speculation that supplies won’t meet rising demand in China, the world’s biggest user, as U.S. inventories drop to a 14-year low.

U.S. stockpiles for the year ending July 31 will total 1.9 million bales, the lowest since the projection in May 1996, when Bloomberg data begins, the Department of Agriculture said on Dec. 10. China refrained from raising interest rates over the weekend, reviving prospects for commodity demand. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 commodities surged as much as 1.6 percent, led by sugar, orange juice and coffee.

“There is lot of bullishness in the market,” said Sid Love, the president of Joe Kropf & Sid Love Consulting Services LLC in Overland Park, Kansas. “Also, news from China has perked up the entire commodities pack.”

Cotton for March delivery jumped the exchange limit of 4 cents, or 2.9 percent, to settle at $1.4097 a pound at 2:38 p.m. on ICE in New York, the highest since Nov. 11.

Prices have gained 86 percent this year in New York amid surging demand from China and shrinking inventories in the U.S., the world’s largest exporter.

Stockpiles held in warehouses monitored by ICE have plunged 72 percent this year. The U.S. crop will be 0.8 percent smaller than last month’s estimate, the government said. Yields in the U.S. will be 814 pounds an acre, down from last month’s estimate of 821 pounds, after hail damaged crops in Texas, the USDA said.

ICE Mar11 Cotton Trend: