The outlook for cotton prices is “bearish” in the 2012-13 season as global stockpiles rise while demand shrinks as use of synthetic fibers increases, Morgan Stanley said.

The global economic “slowdown could present further downside to demand,” analysts including Hussein Allidina said today in an e-mailed report. “The persistence of synthetic blending after widespread mill reconfigurations in 2011 is likely to keep cotton demand depressed through 2012.”