Cotton Gains on Australian Output Concerns
January 6, 2011 By Debarati Roy
Bloomberg
Cotton gained for the third straight day on concern that output in Australia, the fourth-largest exporter, will decline because of the worst floods in half a century.
Northeastern Australia’s floods have caused more than $5 billion in damages, disrupting mining operations and destroying crops. Cotton prices surged 92 percent last year, the biggest gain since 1973, as adverse weather curbed output and demand surged in China, the world’s largest consumer.
“We cannot afford to lose any more as every bale counts,” said Keith Brown, the president of Keith Brown & Co., a brokerage in Moultrie, Georgia. “The supply situation is very, very tight.”
World output will total 115.5 million bales in the year that began Aug. 1, compared with projected use of 116.3 million, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Dec. 10.
(Story found in original format here.)
GET THE NEWSLETTER TODAY!
