Cotton prices rose, extending a rally to a 15-year high, on mounting concern that global demand will outpace shrinking supplies.
India, the world’s second-biggest cotton grower, stopped registering export contracts after Cargill Inc., Louis Dreyfus Commodities and other trading companies filled the quota. On Oct. 8, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut its forecast for global output and raised its estimate for worldwide demand.
“The market is just in a runaway situation,” said Sharon Johnson, a senior analyst at First Capital Group LLC. “Mills are in full panic mode.”
Cotton for December delivery surged 3.33 cents, or 3.1 percent, to settle at $1.1105 a pound at 2:39 p.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Earlier, the price gained as much as 4 cents, the exchange limit, to $1.1117, the highest level for a most-active contract since June 19, 1995.
Futures rose for the fifth straight session, the longest rally since late July. The fiber has surged 75 percent in the past 12 months. The U.S. is the world’s biggest exporter, and China is the top grower.
India’s export quota was filled 10 days after registrations began Oct. 1. Shipments will begin Nov. 1.
The Cotlook A Index, which reflects the average of the five cheapest cotton prices offered at Far East ports, rose to a record $1.215 a pound today, industry researcher Cotlook Ltd. said.
“The already very tight world-supply situation is tightening further,” Don Shurley, a professor and cotton economist at the University of Georgia in Tifton, said in a report.