ICE cotton futures extend falls on trade talk woes

ICE cotton futures extend falls on trade talk woes

May 7 (Reuters) - ICE cotton futures extended losses on Tuesday as the United States and China appeared far from reaching a truce on their trade dispute.

* The most-active cotton contract on ICE Futures U.S. July

dipped 0.38 cent, or 0.52%, to 73.17 cents per lb

* It traded within a range of 73.34 to 74.72 cents a lb, as trade tensions between the United States and China escalated.

* U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon.

* “Cotton is just on the defensive. The U.S. has to have access to the Chinese market or it cannot meet its export target,” said Ed Jernigan, chief executive of Jernigan Global, a cotton textile supply chain manager, adding that if trade talks do not come through, China would look to Brazil to meet its needs.

* Despite Trump’s threats, Beijing said its top negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, would go to Washington for talks this week, as planned.

* “On a global level, this (trade talks) does not have that much supply-demand impact. This only disrupts trade flows, which puts some burden on the United States,” Jernigan added.

* The United States is the world’s biggest cotton exporter, while China is the top consumer.

* Meanwhile, India, the world’s biggest cotton producer, could see cotton imports touching record levels this year.

* Total futures market volume fell by 18,788 to 29,118 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 1,808 to 221,696 contracts in the previous session.

* Certificated cotton stocks <CERT-COT-STX> deliverable as of May 6 totaled 77,055 480-lb bales, up from 69,543 in the previous session.

(Reporting by Karthika Suresh Namboothiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: Reuters
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