Cotton futures scale 2-week peak on possible U.S.-China trade deal

Cotton futures scale 2-week peak on possible U.S.-China trade deal

Feb 21 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures on Thursday jumped more than 2 percent to hit their highest level in two-weeks on a report about a potential breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade dispute.

* The most active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S., the May

contract , settled up 1.85 cent, or 2.56 percent, at 74.01

cents per lb.

* The contract earlier in the session touched 74.35 cents per lb, a level last seen on Feb. 7.

* "Prices are up on the news that China as a part of the trade deal has committed to buy $30 billion of U.S. agriculture goods, and there are all sort of hopes that the cotton will be included," said Jack Scoville, vice president at Price Futures Group in Chicago.

* "This (latest news on trade talks) is potentially a game changer, the mere fact that it could happen is enough to create significant speculative buying," Scoville said.

* The United States and China have started to outline commitments in principle on the stickiest issues in their trade dispute, marking the most significant progress yet toward ending a seven-month trade war.

* This comes after a report that China is expected to propose spending $30 billion more on U.S. agricultural imports.

* Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected 2019 U.S. all-cotton plantings at 14.3 mln acres, which analysts said

was lower than what the market expected. . * Friday is the first notice day for the March contract. * Total futures market volume rose by 13,818 to 47,252 lots.

Data showed total open interest fell 6,618 to 223,795 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of Feb. 20 totaled 127,973 480-lb bales, down from 129,104 in the previous session.

(Reporting by Sumita Layek and Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Brown)

Source: Reuters
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