Cotton Futures Nudge Higher, Despite Forecast for Rising U.S. Sowings

By Matt Hopkins|February 13, 2018

Cotton futures nudged higher, despite a much-watched survey on U.S. sowings showing a seven-year high, as the estimate came in in-line with existing forecasts, and worries over dryness curtailing plantings, writes Mike Verdin on AgriMoney.com.

Cotton futures for March nudged 0.6% higher to 77.14 cents a pound in morning deals in New York, where the new crop December lot added 0.2% to 75.69 cents a pound.

The gains came even as the National Cotton Council, in results of its annual survey of U.S. farmers’ cotton sowings intentions, showed that growers expect to plant 13.08m acres with the fibre.

A figure at that level would be up 3.7% year on year, and the highest since 2011, reflecting the relatively strong prices of the fibre, which on New York’s futures market rallied above 80 cents a pound last month for only the second time since 2014.