NEW YORK: ICE cotton futures edged up on Friday, buoyed by bets for a reduction in US cotton planting estimates in a federal report due next week, though caution over the report kept prices in a narrow range.
Cotton contracts for May rose 0.41 cent, or 0.5% to 87.55 cents per lb by 12:58 PM ET (1758 GMT). It traded within a range of 85.67 and 87.76 cents a lb. Prices were set for a second week of losses, falling 1.5%.
“There’s almost a universal consensus that this crop is shrinking and consumption is going up,” said Barry Bean, a cotton buyer based in Gideon, Missouri.
Market participants are awaiting the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) monthly World Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report due on Tuesday. Bean, however, added that the market could still fall if estimated reductions in the cotton crop size and increased exports in the report come below expectations. “We believe that core speculator longs are not going to abandon their positions. If our assumption is correct, then this bull market will sooner or later resume,” said Peter Egli, director of risk management at British merchant Plexus Cotton in a note on Thursday.
Many cotton-producing counties in South and West Texas are currently in a moderate to severe drought and that should support prices, he added. Limiting gains for the natural fiber was a firmer dollar which raised the cost of purchasing cotton for buyers in other currencies.
Total futures market volume fell by 10,924 to 27,002 lots. Data showed total open interest gained 115 to 237,608 contracts in the previous session.