Cotton futures fell to the lowest in almost three weeks on speculation that a slowing economy in China, the worldΆs biggest user, will curb demand.
ChinaΆs benchmark money-market rates tumbled for a second day, extending a retreat from record highs, on signs that targeted injections of funds are being used to ease a cash crunch that threatens to worsen an economic slowdown. Global equities and most raw materials resumed the slide begun last week after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank will ease stimulus measures should the economy continue to improve.
“External macroeconomic drivers are putting pressure” on prices, Gary Raines, a vice president of economics and analysis at FCStone LLC in Nashville, Tennessee, said in a telephone interview. “Concern that ChinaΆs imports will slow had been there for a while, and with the volatility in other markets, cotton is going along for the ride.”
Cotton for December delivery slumped 1.6 percent to 83.3 cents a pound at 11:26 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York, after touching 83.11 cents, the lowest for a most-active contract since June 6.
ChinaΆs cotton imports in May tumbled 31 percent from a year earlier, the nationΆs customs agency said last week. By July 31, 2014, the countryΆs stockpiles will climb 18 percent to 58.93 million bales, or about 64 percent of the worldΆs total, the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates. A bale weighs 480 pounds, or 218 kilograms.