Cotton prices fell for the fourth straight session Monday, with traders concerned about higher-than-expected U.S. supply.
Cotton for March delivery fell 2.6% to 78.36 cents a pound on the ICE Futures U.S. exchange. Prices had threatened 85 cents earlier in the month with mills and traders covering short positions, but have fallen recently amid oversupply concerns.
Because of the recent price rally, some predictions now show U.S. acreage for the coming season's crop at 14 million acres, which would be an 11% increase from a year earlier, Commerzbank analysts said in a note to clients.
"This would be the largest U.S. cotton acreage since 2011," the analysts said.
A weekly government report Friday also showed a 75% week-over-week drop in U.S. cotton sales abroad, with sales at their lowest level in several months.
The latest Commodity Futures Trading Commission data Friday showed speculative investors didn't reduce their bets on higher cotton prices much during the week ended Jan. 23, but "the reduction in positions is likely to have been intensified up to the end of last week," Commerzbank said.
