China Cotton Market Daily(13 Jan 2011)

CCF Price
•1/13 CCF RMB price for type 329: 27880yuan/mt, +20yuan/mt
•1/12 Cotlook A: 176.25cent/lb, +4cent/lb

International cotton market
US cotton futures closed higher on Wednesday on investor buying, boosted by a strong grains complex, a weak dollar and a rally in equities after a strong debt sale by Portugal, analysts said. The key March cotton contract on ICE Futures US rose 0.72 cent to settle at $1.4797 per lb, having briefly hit the 5-cent trading limit at $1.5225. The session low was at $1.477.

China cotton
Xinjiang cotton and upcountry cotton showed different trends in recent two days. Offers for Xinjiang cotton were raised while that for upcountry cotton was relatively steady. Shandong-origin grade-3 cotton was still largely quoted at 27600-27800yuan/mt, against cost having been at around 27300-27400yuan/mt. Sales were only moderate. As to Xinjiang cotton, higher offers for grade-3 ones have been at 29200-29300yuan/mt.

ZCE cotton opened high and trended low. The most active Sep11 closed at 29075yuan/mt, down 85yuan/mt.

Imported cotton
CIF offers for foreign cotton hiked slower, mostly by 0.50-0.75cent/lb. US SM 1-1/8 was largely offered at 176.5-177.5cent/lb, recent arrivals, equal to 30000-30300yuan/mt under sliding scale duty, still higher than RMB offers for goods already at ports.

At ports, some small lots have been traded, but slow. Some textile mills were actively looking for US cotton. M-grade US cotton was heard traded at 28000yuan/mt. Higher offers for Brazilian SM 1-3/32 were at 29000-29100yuan/mt.

($1=CNY6.60)